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Top 10 International Stories of 2015; Iraqi Christians Mark Holiday Far From Home. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired December 25, 2015 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What you are watching is a clip from the movie "Argo", Dana, and that reinstated the whole Iranian hostage taking into the American consciousness.
[13:30:05] Six Americans were able to get out miraculously from that embassy, but then they had to watch the other 53 who remained behind. And so this is really, this is goes back decades, 30 decades' of compensation, and it's a good thing for all of the families and those involved.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: It is, and I remember, as I said, looking into the story a couple of years ago at the time when "Argo" came out, and it was absolutely helpful to talk to a couple of the former hostages, so hooray for Hollywood on this Christmas Day, huh?
FEYERICK: Exactly.
BASH: Thank you very much for that, Deb.
FEYERICK: And headlines of 2015 dominated by international stories. So, which ones made our top ten list? Don't miss it.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BASH: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. There is no doubt that 2015 has been a whirlwind when it comes to the international news. From the notorious drug kingpin El Chapo escaping from prison to the horrendous acts of violence carried out across the world by ISIS. There's no doubt that this has been a year to remember.
Anderson Cooper takes a look at the top ten international stories of 2015.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Our top ten start s with the shocking prison escape inside the Mexican jail cell of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
[13:35:01] The drug kingpin walks to a shower and vanishes, fleeing through this.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is difficult to breathe down here, a lot of dirt, dust, this is the bike that El Chapo used to ride out of the prison.
COOPER: El Chapo remains at large. And the question still lingers, who helped him escape?
Number nine, a moment for the history books. Cuba and America back on speaking terms. Americans boarding planes bound for Havana, thanks to a momentous thawing of icy diplomatic relations between the two countries.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A year ago, it might have seemed impossible that the United States would once again be raising our flag, the Stars and Stripes, over an embassy in Havana.
TV ANCHOR: A powerful earthquake has hit Nepal.
COOPER: Number eight, a massive quake hit Nepal's capital Kathmandu, ten feet and 30 seconds, triggering an avalanche of Mount Everest. Days of aftershocks follow, more than 8,000 people died.
Very few more stories were more divisive. The number seven on our list --
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Relations between the United States and Iran are poised to enter a new era after decades of hostility --
COOPER: And the historic agreement to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Some hailing it as a major victory for diplomacy --
OBAMA: There's a reason why 99 percent of the world thinks this is a good deal, because it is a good deal.
COOPER: Others calling it a deal with the devil.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This deal doesn't make peace more likely. It makes war more likely.
COOPER: Powerful words from the leader of Israel.
Even more powerful, this moment on the floor of the United Nations -- 44 seconds of uncomfortable silence of what he says is the deafening silence toward Iran from the West.
At number six, the bloody war rages in Syria and Iraq, sprawling mess and a danger of proxy war. U.S.-led coalition airstrikes pound ISIS targets in Syria. Russia says it's bombing ISIS targets as well.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Russians are not attacking ISIS. They are conducting airstrike in areas where there are anti-regime militias. Those strikes will bolster Bashar al Assad.
COOPER: On the sidelines, Turkey fiercely protecting its border.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Turkey shooting down a Russian plane.
REPORTER: An SU-24 Russian warplane crashed in the mountains of Syria, near the Turkish border.
REPORTER: The Russians are understandably absolutely furious.
REPORTER: President Putin speaking out, calling the incident a, quote, "stab in the back".
COOPER: This year, the world watched the biggest escalation of the American military campaign against ISIS to date.
OBAMA: I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria.
BLITZER: U.S. is stepping its presence on the ground.
TV ANCHOR: President Obama putting combat boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
TV ANCHOR: For the first time, officially, sending Special Forces into Syria to fight ISIS.
COOPER: Rounding out the top five, a rock star welcome for Pope Francis as he toured the United States and Cuba, the masses before millions.
REPORTER: This man is playing extraordinarily well on the New York stage.
BLITZER: Reverend, I want to listen in, because the crowds are so excited.
COOPER: Off of the cuff moments, and glimpses into the life of the Catholic leader that so many have come to love.
He then went to the war zone in a Central African Republic, part of the pontiff's historic visit to Africa.
Number four, a city under siege.
REPORTER: A manhunt is underway for the gunman that perpetrated this heinous attack on the offices of "Charlie Hebdo".
REPORTER: The editor of the newspaper is among the dead, as well one of the cartoonists who was responsible for the very famous Mohammad cartoon that got the newspaper in trouble back in 2011.
COOPER: Two Islamist terrorists, brothers, forced their way into the offices of satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo", opening fire and killing 12.
REPORTER: It is a very disturbing scene to see the people there, and people were crying out for help.
COOPER: Chaos spilling into the streets. Muslim police officer executed on camera, as they try to flee, the manhunt for the killers intensifies.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims responsibility, and meantime, shoppers at a Jewish grocery store were held hostage, not by the brothers but a man working apparently in concert with them. After three intense days, 17 innocent people are dead, terrorists killed.
Number three, a Germanwings commercial airline crashes, killing everyone onboard.
The co-pilot of Germanwings pilot 9525 now considered a culprit. Andrea Lubitz locks the captain out of the cockpit, and steers the Airbus A320 into the ground. Chilling revelation as prosecutors hear the horror unfold on the black box recorder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The screams are in the last instance, I'd remind you that the death was instantaneous.
COOPER: Lubitz flying this plane into the side of the mountain, obliterating it and everything aboard.
TV ANCHOR: CNN learning Lubitz reprogrammed the plane's auto pilot in flight, changing the setting from cruising altitude, 38,000 feet, to just 100 feet. A premeditated plan condemning everyone onboard.
COOPER: Senseless killings sparking a question that struck fear around the world, can you trust the person piloting your plane?
[13:40:03] And number two, 2 million Syrians run for their lives. Refugee crisis on the scale not seen since World War II.
REPORTER: Running for their lives, Syrian refugees crossing the border by the thousands trying to escape war and violence at home.
COOPER: Syria President Bashar al Assad dropped barrel bombs on his own people and ISIS terrorists carved a bloody path to the country, terrified Syrians flee.
REPORTER: They have fired more tear gas and people are panicking.
COOPER: At borders across Europe, men, women, children are pushed back, tens of thousands more with nothing but the clothes on their back just really crammed into boats, destined for unknown shores, some would never make it.
TV ANCHOR: It is still so disturbing. The 2-year-old Aylan Kurdi was found face down on the Turkish beach. He drowned at sea while trying to cross the sea with his family.
COOPER: The picture of the lifeless toddler on the beach becoming the symbolic scene of those.
But still in many countries, fear of the unknown prevails.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have breaking news for you out of Paris, France.
COOPER: And number one, ISIS terrorizes the world, spreading the brutality beyond the borders of Iraq and Syria. Explosion rings out outside of a soccer stadium in Paris, first of three suicide bombers to detonate outside the stadium, marking the series of terror attacks the likes of which Paris has never seen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole time, he said, don't run, just stay. Those words saved my life, because the people who ran were shot.
COOPER: People were fleeing for their lives, and a pregnant woman who was so terrified that she hung from the side of a building to escape the gunfire. At several restaurants, innocent diners were slain as terrorists unloaded round after round.
FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We are at war. At war against terrorism.
COOPER: The unimaginable slaughter of 133 people in Paris happening just 24 hours after this, in Beirut, Lebanon, a pair of suicide bombs would blast and as the smoke clears, 43 people are dead. ISIS' ability to incite terror and fear across the world.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New U.S. intelligence claims that the plane was most likely brought down by a bomb.
REPORTER: ISIS is holding this photo up as proof that it downed Metro Jet 9268.
REPORTER: ISIS says they detonated it in midair, and as you know, 224 people were killed.
COOPER: And then and attack on U.S. soil.
TV ANCHOR: A disturbed husband and wife drop off their little baby, drive to the holiday party and kill 14 people.
COOPER: A pair radicalized an inspired by ISIS, carry out the deadliest terror attack in the United States since 9/11, leaving many to wonder and worry where ISIS could strike next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:46:01] BASH: On this Christmas Day, Pope Francis issued a plea for peace in the Holy Land and in other places of conflict throughout the world. In his annual message to the city and the world, the pope called for renewed talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and he expressed hope that a recent agreement would end the war in Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS (through translator): We pray to the lord that the agreement reached in the United Nations may succeed in halting as quickly as possible the clash of arms in Syria and in remedying the extreme grave humanitarian situation of the suffering people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Many Iraqi Christians forced from their homes by conflict are spending this Christmas as refugees in Turkey.
CNN correspondent Sara Sidner has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Christmas celebration in a land that is not their own. They fled for their lives fearing death, but nothing could kill their faith.
Nearly 2,000 miles from Mosul, Iraq, where ISIS murderers have tormented their people, including their Muslim neighbors, these Christian refugees have found a place to celebrate the birth of their lord and savior.
"My last Christmas was in my family's house. It was me, my mom and dad, and my brother. We were all together. And we hope to be united as one family in one place just once more," she says.
But, for now, they're refugees in Istanbul, Turkey, praying and singing, a family torn apart. They sing Christmas carols in old wedding hall that has been converted into a church for Christmas. They grieve for their losses, but pray for their homeland, hoping one day to return to Iraq as proud Christians with no fear of reprisals, simply because of their faith.
They come from one of the oldest, longest-standing Christmas communities in the world, but even their priest had to flee his church there.
"What gives us patience, solace, hope is the words from the holy book, the Bible," he says. "The Lord said you will face persecution, but take courage. I conquered the world."
Christianity is under siege in the very region where it was born.
Iraq's Christian population used to be about 1.5 million a decade ago. Now, only about half remain. Syria is even worse. Of the 1.1 million Syrian Christians who once lived in the country, about 600,000 have fled.
In the Middle East, they call themselves by many names, Assyrians, Syriac, Chaldean, but they are all Christians.
JOHNSON RAZGIN, REFUGEE: It's sad to be far away from our country. It's sad to be far away from our neighbors, from our friends, from our families. It's not easy.
But anyhow, something is better than nothing. And thanks for God that we have a priest here, that we're gathering here. I hope everything could be OK.
SIDNER: On this day, these Christians humbly offer their thanks, grateful that they have survived to celebrate one of the most joyous days on the Christian calendar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: And there has been talk by the Christian refugees whether or not Christianity is actually dead in the Middle East, the very place where Christianity began. And the word to the refugees to us is that they do not believe that will happen. They truly have faith that they one day be able to one day return to the homeland without being prosecuted or persecuted. However, they believe it will be a very long time.
BASH: Sara, thank you so much for that beautiful piece about faith and perseverance. It is something that we should all remember today. Thank you so much.
And straight ahead, we are going to be looking at the U.S. here to 2016 to somebody who wants to be the first female president. Carly Fiorina, she has spent her fair share of time in the spotlight, but we haven't seen too much about her husband Frank.
[13:50:00] I had a very candid interview with a very candid would-be first gentleman. We will watch it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:53:38] BASH: Donald Trump spent some time on Christmas Eve trolling reporters on Twitter and ripping his rivals, saying he believe some covered him unfairly by not making more of CNN's recent polling showing him in a commanding position. He tweeted, "Third rate reporters Amy Chozick and Maggie Haberman of the failing 'New York Times' are totally in the Hillary circle of bias. Think about Bill."
And "Chuck Todd, very dishonest in not showing the new CNN poll where I am at 39 percent, 21 points higher than Cruz. Be honest, Chuck."
We should say for the record here that we believe that these are all first rate reporters. But on the issue of politics and his rivals, he also looked ahead to next year with a tweet, "Next year will be an interesting one. I look forward to running against Hillary Clinton, a totally flawed candidate beating her soundly."
He ended with a rant and then some holiday cheer. Now, speaking about one of his rivals, Carly Fiorina, she's had her back and forth with Donald Trump. But she also is somebody who is used to being in the spotlight.
Not her husband, though. He's somebody who is very accepting to the fact that he takes a back seat to her and I had a candid interview with her. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FRANK FIORINA, HUSBAND OF CARLY F. FIORINA: Morning, girls. How
are we doing?
BASH (voice-over): Inside Carly Fiorina's headquarters, a visit with young campaign aides and a thank you.
[13:55:05] F. FIORINA: We really appreciate it.
BASH: This is Frank Fiorina's role these days, a supportive husband who does whatever he can to help his wife's presidential bid.
(on camera): You are Mr. Carly Fiorina.
F. FIORINA: I was always proud to be. Always proud to be.
BASH (voice-over): Taking a back seat to his wife is hardly new for him. He predicted it when he met Carly more than 30 years ago when they were both working at AT&T.
F. FIORINA: I was a higher level than her, but there was no doubt that she was going to surpass me in the ranks at AT&T, rightfully so, and she'd be chairman some day.
BASH (on camera): Did you tell her that?
F. FIORINA: I did tell her that. And I'm not even quite sure why. At the time, it was a mixture of a great line and the truth.
(LAUGHTER)
BASH (voice-over): It wasn't AT&T but Carly did eventually become a CEO of a Hewlett-Packard, and Frank decided to quit his job to support her.
(on camera): You retired at age 48 at the peak of your career to be Carly's husband.
F. FIORINA: That's true. And it was quite controversial, believe me. I knew it was the right thing to do.
BASH (voice-over): But playing the supporting role isn't always easy.
F. FIORINA: When you think about a person that's that smart and that hardworking and that focused, it's hard to keep up sometimes.
BASH: They've never had children of their own but Carly bonded with his then young daughters like none of his other daughters had.
F. FIORINA: It was just like a Disney movie. I mean, they would play havoc with my dates and when I finally got to bring Carly home, it was pretty clear to me that the three of them loved each other.
BASH: In 2009, one of Frank's daughter Lori died of a drug overdose, the same year Carly was diagnosed with breast cancer. F. FIORINA: It was a bad year. I kept saying, this is going to
end badly. She was too smart, too educated. She would never admit that she had a problem.
BASH: He wears a bracelet made from a necklace that she wore the day she died.
F. FIORINA: It was a necklace that Carly bought her. I know it looks silly but I wear it all the time.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My husband and I lost one of our daughters to addiction.
BASH: Carly often talks in the campaign trail about the loss of her stepdaughter and the need to fight addiction.
C. FIORINA: My husband frank has been here.
BASH: She also talks about how Frank started out as an AT&T technician and tow truck driver, keeps her grounded.
C. FIORINA: OK. Why would I want to be president? My husband asked me that occasionally.
BASH (on camera): Do you like politics?
F. FIORINA: Frankly, not particularly. Politics is so different than business. And, of course, I've spent my whole life in business and working.
BASH (voice-over): He's often with Carly on the trail, but mostly keeps his opinions to himself.
F. FIORINA: I'm very cautious about when I give her advice. Very cautious.
BASH (on camera): Why?
F. FIORINA: Because she has so many people giving her advice. So I really try to pick my targets. If there's something I really feel she's being misled about, I speak up.
BASH (voice-over): Like most political spouses, he takes attacks on his wife harder than she does.
(on camera): When you hear a criticism of your wife, what do you want to do?
F. FIORINA: I'm an Italian boy from Pittsburgh. So I don't need to quite explain what I'd really like to do. But it just infuriates me.
BASH (voice-over): And when Donald Trump made fun of his wife's face --
F. FIORINA: I almost thought it was humorous. I mean, out of all the people on the stage, it would be hard to say Carly -- there was anything wrong with Carly's face, I would say.
BASH (on camera): Do you think that she's treated differently because she's a woman?
F. FIORINA: Carly won't say this, but I will. I've watched for 34 years how she's been treated differently in everything she's done in life, everything.
BASH (voice-over): Still, Frank's prediction about Carly's business success came true. They are both hoping he was also prophetic about politics.
F. FIORINA: At least 18, 20 years ago, I said she was going to be president some day, but I wasn't encouraging her to do that. I was just stating the obvious. That's all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: By the way, Frank Fiorina told me if she ever becomes the first gentleman, he just wants to be called the First Frank.
Finally, this hour, as Americans gather around their Christmas tree to open presents, President Obama is using his weekly address to urge Americans to be compassionate to those in need.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Today, like millions of Americans and Christians around the world, our family celebrates the birth of Jesus and the values he lived in his own life, treating one another with love and compassion, caring for those on society's margins, the sick and the hungry, the poor and the persecuted, the stranger in need of shelter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: That's it for this program. I'm Dana Bash. Thank you so much for being with me on this Christmas Day. The news continues right here on CNN.
