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North Korea Celebrates Kim Jong-Un's Birthday; Chinese Stocks Rebound; Obama Makes Case for Gun Control at CNN Town Hall; Truck Bombing in Western Libya Kills At Least 50; Facing Deportation in Germany; U.N.: Credible Reports of Starvation in Syria; Golden Globes May Signal Oscar Winners. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 08, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


[00:00:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, for North Korea celebrates Kim Jong-un's birthday, South Korea tries to ruin the party with K-pop and propaganda.

After we get big loses in a circuit breaker break down, Chinese stocks rebound.

And CNN's town hall guns in America. President Obama makes the case for tougher background checks saying they will not lead to wide spread confiscation of guns.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause, the first hour NEWSROOM L.A starts now.

Tensions between North and South Korea are growing after North's Nuclear test this week. With in the past two hours South Korea standard broadcasting Anti Pyongyang propaganda over the demilitarize zone.

South Korea's military has also heightened its defensive posture along the border. In the past, the North has responded with artillery fire. The -- this comes on the day believed to be Kim Jong-un's 33rd birthday.

North Korea claims a detonated a hydrogen bomb on Wednesday and despite global condemnation and doubts, it appears to be a source of national pride in the country.

New on North Korea leader say they are ready for more sanctions. Law makers in the U.S. has said to vote on the measures with in days.

CNN is the only U.S. broadcaster reporting from inside North Korea it is Will Ripley in Pyongyang.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been meeting with officials here in Pyongyang. And I can tell you from their perspective this is all about defending North Korea's national sovereignty. This is a country that for the better part of 70 years has felt consistently under the imminent threat of invasion from the United States and its allies. The U.S., of course, is tied very closely militarily with South Korea.

U.S. troops are stationed along the demilitarized zone along with South Korean troops. There are also missiles in place on the southern end of the Peninsula.

And that is North Korea's justification, they say, for continuing to aggressively invest and develop not only their nuclear program, but also their missile program, and they have one of the largest standing armies in the world with more than a million troops. Many of them stationed close to that heavily fortified border.

And that could be a potential flashpoint as South Korea threatens these propaganda loud speaker broadcasts which in the past have been infuriating to the North Korean regime, a regime that insists on controlling the message and making sure that its people do not receive outside influence that they feel might corrupt their minds.

So the thought that these loud speakers could start blasting propaganda from the South into the North on of all days, the supreme leader Kim Jong-un's 33rd birthday, well over the summer when that happened North Korea called it an act of war. They sent troops to the border, they fired artillery at the loud speakers and the situation came right to the brink before they were able to deescalate.

Things are already tense here on the Peninsula after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in the last 15 years. North Korea claims they have experts that can prove it was, in fact, a hydrogen bomb, even though many international experts are highly skeptical.

No change in radiation levels have been detected by China, South Korea and Japan. Officials who I met with here in Pyongyang say the explanation for that is that new technology was used to reduce the amount of radiation spewed into the atmosphere.

In the meantime, I also asked about the possibility of additional sanctions, with the United States voting next week on more harsh sanctions against the North Korean regime. Officials told me, frankly, they're not worried about sanctions. They say they've lived with them for so many years the thought of more crippling sanctions doesn't intimidate them. They say collectively as a nation they will tighten their belts and go without food and electricity if they have to, to defend their nation.

Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang, North Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul with more on South Korea's new propaganda broadcast and the other measures which the country is now taking.

So, Paula, explain why these broadcasts are considered an appropriate response to many. Many seem an odd response to a nuclear test to play loud music across the DMZ.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John so knows that Pyongyang reacts to this measure. This is why they're going ahead with it. They have seen in the past that it does anger North Korea, the fact that they are concerned going to many analyst that they can't control that message going in.

One analyst I spoke to this morning actually said to me it's like a virus. The virus of truth that is being pumped into North Korea. They don't want that people to hear what this -- what is being said is the fact that saying effectively how good things are in the south and how bad things are in the north, its K-pop songs that are being blasted across.

[00:05:00] Although another analyst typically and tied to me that for the most part along that border with the South Korea, there are mainly just soldiers who have been very carefully selected. The elite soldiers who are believed to be very loyal to the regime so it does surprise some just how violently North Korea reacts to this loud speakers. John.

VAUSE: And when you say they react retaliate violently to this broadcast, exactly what are we talking about here?

HANCOCKS: Well back in the summer we did see a return of a firing on the area where these loud speakers were from North Korea. It will rupture up tensions. We know from the defense ministry here in South Korea then military is on a heightened state of alert. A heightened defensive posture along the border and they've also increased their security in a cyber sense.

Cyber security has been intensified because of course that's a way that South Korea says North Korea has attacked them many times in the past. So South Korea is very much aware that by carrying out this measure, by putting this loud speakers back in place that they are inviting some repercussions, some retaliation from North Korea.

It was only back in up in August of last year that they actually pulled these propaganda loud speakers down after the North and the South started to get on a bit better when they were starting to negotiate.

Of course any negotiations at this point are completely out of the window, John.

VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks live again for us there in Seoul.

Move on to another big story out of the regions. Stocks in Asia Pacific is showing signs of well a bit of a rebound after signing the year deep in negative fair view (ph).

Listen to the numbers right there. Right now, the Nikkei is up by right a quarter of a percent, in Hong Kong go up by more than 1 percent. The Shanghai composite, everyone's been watching that. Now up by almost 2.5 percent but in Australia backing the trend down by a quarter of 1 percent.

U.S. markets lost major ground on Thursday. The Dow, the S&P both fell 2.3 percent. The NASDAQ goes down more than 3 percent. It is just after 1 p.m. in Beijing right now with CNN's Matt Rivers, has also have been keeping a close eye on these markets and Matt. It looks like starts in China have pulled back from the Brink at least for now.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, for now is the key word there John. We have seen incredible volant -- volatility starting on Monday when stocks were automatically halted. We saw that again on Thursday. Thanks in part to these circuit breakers that were put into place by Chinese regulators earlier this year.

Those circuit breakers once loses searches certain amount in the CSI 300 index, they automatically halt trading for at first 15 minutes and then if loses continue it stops for the remainder of the day.

Many analyst that we've spoken to over the past week have actually blamed those circuit breakers in part for actually instilling more panic in the markets. Encouraging people to short sell and get out of the markets for the day.

So it was later last night after 10 p.m., local Beijing time that the regulatory commission in charge of over the -- in charge of over seeing the stock market's here actually said, "You know what, the circuit breakers that we installed, that we just started using on Monday we're going to get rid of them"

Actually they are suspended for now. No word on when or if they might ever come back but that move alone along with some liquidity injections that the Central Bank did hear yesterday seem to have calmed investors for now.

VAUSE: Just very quickly Matt, how much confidence (ph) is there now in China's policy makers. They have seemed to have made some pretty bad cause lately.

RIVERS: Yeah, things have not gone very well for them and you can just look at these circuit breakers, I mean, they were suppose to do the exact opposite of what they appear to have done. They were installed on Monday and then in pretty quick turn around something that starts on Monday and ends on a Friday, perhaps not the best policy to have ever been implemented.

VAUSE: To say the least, Matt. Thank you, Matt Rivers live in Beijing. Appreciate it.

U.S. President Barack Obama says he respects the second amendment, the one which guarantees a right to bear arms but he wants to do whatever he can to keep guns out of the wrong hands.

Mr. Obama once again asked for support on Thursday night for tougher gun laws. He addressed and orient of gun rights advocates in those in support of strict regulations. This all happening during a live town hall hosted by CNN. The president heard emotional testimonies from the widow of a murdered navy seal, a rape survivor and others. And also two questions including one from the Sheriff of a county in the U.S. State of Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BABEU, SHERIFF PINAL COUNTY, AROZONA: What would you have done to prevent this mass shootings and the terrorist attack and how do we get those with mental illness and criminals, that's the real problem here.

[00:10:09] How are we going to get them to follow the laws?

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Crime is always going to be which, so I think it's really important for us not to suggest that if we can't solve every crime, we shouldn't thrive to solve any crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In the CNN/ORC poll conducted this week on Mr. Obama's executive actions, 67 percent of American said they are in support of all of these changes. Thirty two percent oppose them. And when it comes to party lines, 85 percent of Democrats, 65 percent of Independents and just over half Republicans who are asked to say they are in favor of the president's proposals.

Lonnie and Sandy Phillips joins us now from Fairfax, Virginia. Their daughter, Jessi, was one of 12 people shot dead in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012.

Lonnie and Sandy, thank you for being with us. What was it like to be in that town hall with President Obama?

SANDY PHILLIPS, MOTHER OF AURORA THEATER SHOOTING VICTIM: Well, we were fortunate enough to be at the White House on Tuesday and to get the invite here as well. So it's been an interesting, remarkable, exciting week, to say the least. This is something that we've been working very hard on 24/7 for the last four years. So to see it come to this point and have a president that is bringing this issue to the national stage, finally, is very rewarding.

VAUSE: Lonnie, was there any moment in that town hall which really stands out to you?

LONNIE PHILIPS, AURORA SHOOTING VICTIM JESSICA GHAWI: Well, I thought the whole -- the way it was presented was very well done. I mean, there were -- the questions that were asked were very good questions. And I think the president answered them all very well. He was careful. He was very -- his conversation was, I think, very believable. And his demeanor was calm and respectful.

And the questions that were asked, I think the one about -- I think the father asked about the, you know, why can't guns be licensed like cars and he explained that the rhetoric right now and the conversation is too heated to even get to that point. But if we can make some kind of movement, and at least get everyone on the same page and talking to each other in a responsible, quiet way, instead of screaming to each other, that we can make some progress. And I think that's what he was trying to show tonight and I think he succeeded in doing that.

VAUSE: Do you think the president managed to change any minds after the town hall, or is it just too soon for that?

S. PHILLIPS: You know, I just answered that question earlier with it in another interview. And I don't think it's the president's job to change minds. I think it's his job to put the truth out there, put the facts out there, to call out people when they're believing falsehoods and rhetoric that have been around for way too long, like guns don't kill people, people kill people.

You know, this is a slippery slope to confiscation. And he's calling them out on that. And I think that's a good thing. Most sensible -- most Americans are sensible. And to allow that fringe element for all these years to run rough ride over us is not OK.

So now it's on the national level. It's being discussed logically and calmly. And we applaud him for doing it. It's big, big step forward for the country and for saving lives in our country.

L. PHILLIPS: He doesn't need to change any minds. Everybody is pretty well polarized. They're going to be what they're going to be. We don't need any mind changing. We just need to go to the polls. Where 90 percent of us want changes, 74 percent of the NRA members want changes.

The minds don't need to be changed. We just need to go vote. Nothing happens until Election Day. So if you want to do something about it, go to the polls. Get rid of the 90 percent of the Republicans that voted against the background check bill when they should have voted for it and cost thousands of lives by not passing that law. It's just to the point now we're not arguing any more. Just go to the polls and do -- and vote your conscience. That's all we need you to do.

S. PHILLIPS: Take action, exactly. The president stood up when Congress wouldn't. The president did something when Congress wouldn't. So we need to be applauding that action finally and wait and see what will happen in the future. You know, it does take a long time to change a culture and to move things forward.

[00:15:04] It's too late for our daughter, but it's not too late for others. So we'll get this done.

L. PHILLIPS: We're not going to give up.

VAUSE: OK.

L. PHILLIPS: We're not going to stop. No one -- it's just getting more and more and more people into this fray.

VAUSE: We'll leave it there, Lonnie and Sandy. But thank you so much for speaking with us. And just to remind our viewers, it was your daughter, Jessica, who was in that movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, back in 2012 when she was killed. I wish you both the best of luck.

S. PHILLIPS: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN. We'll have more on the Presidents town hall on guns rotated (ph), closer look at the politics that Mr. Obama is dealing with.

Also ahead, Trump and Cruz and the bromance is it all over as Donald Trump goes Bertha on the senator from Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. There's been a lot of reporting in recent days about the U.S. president and his attempts that executive orders to try and bring down gun violence in the Unites States and those executive orders includes expanding background checks for those who want to buy a gun.

[00:20:04] And in the CNN town hall, Mr. Obama tried to convince his opponents that this plans will work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Great to see you, good.

In the same way that we don't eliminate all traffic -- accidents but over the course of 20 years traffic accidents get lower, there's still tragedies.

There's still drunk drivers. There's still people who don't wear their seatbelts. But over time, that violence was reduced and so families are spared. That's the same thing that we can do with gun ownership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well for both the politics of the town hall and the other news from the campaign realm. National political reporter Maeve Reston is with me now.

This was an extra ordinary move by President Obama to hold this town hall to try and win support for these executive actions on gun control. Was it anything in that town hall you think which would move the needle in the debate?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I don't know that we really saw that tonight from President Obama. I mean, clearly he is really pressing the case. He's going to put a point on this issue. As he goes out he talked about having only one year left and, you know, really going out and advocating on this issue. This has had so many failures on during his presidency, disappointments.

And so I do think that it was interesting in terms of seeing a feistier and more emotional Obama on this issue. In terms of where this debate goes, I mean, you have to think that if not much change after new town what's really going to be different now? But you know, out poll, our CNN poll did show that there is actually pretty broad support for President Obama even crossing party alliance for some of the executive actions that he outlined this week.

And so maybe there is a little bit of a shift happening here. He's truly artentic (ph) to capitalize on that.

VAUSE: It was respectful, people listened. It was polite.

RESTON: Right.

VAUSE: Again, I'm not too sure that anyone left that room changing their position on gun control.

The president wrote in up head in the New York Times. He said in heart, "I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform".

I mean that's the sure it crossed to about to a couple of senators who, you know ...

RESTON: Right.

VAUSE: ... who didn't supporting on Sandy Hook, but does this now mean that this issue of gun control is firmly on the agenda for the coming election at November.

RESTON: I think I'd -- it definitely is and, you know, it's already been in kind of interesting debate that has evolved between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. On the Democratic side Bernie Sanders coming from Vermont having sort of more of a constituency that's more pro-gun.

As so these issues have been sort of alive on the Democratic side. I think for the Republicans they see it as an opportunity to argue that this is a huge power grab. Once again by President Obama, like his executive actions on immigration and so it gives them a lot of red meat to kind of fire up their base and get them really going on this issue.

I do think that that was kind of a shot across the ballot from President Obama or in somebody's' down-ballot races. I obviously his fund raising abilities and his going on to the campaign trail and campaigning for this people could be very important to and a lot of disclose races and he saying, "Listen, take a stand" ...

VAUSE: I think you don't -- you don't get me.

RESTON: Yeah.

VAUSE: The other news for the campaign trail, we've got Trump sort of going half both are not quite full both on Ted Cruz.

RESTON: Right.

VAUSE: Does this mean that the bromance has come to an end? RESTON: Well they're both trying to play it like they're still friends but clearly you're seeing a fascinating dynamic here where everyone is going after Ted Cruz, not just Donald Trump.

VAUSE: Yeah.

RESTON: But -- and Donald Trump is now it kept his controversy alive for several days even though many legal scholar say that this is not an issue and it's clearly going after Ted Cruz with the folks in Iowa sort of raising questions about his electability thing.

Do you really want this kind of a legal question looming over the presidential race as you think about who is the most electable candidate to put up against Hillary Clinton.

It's interesting that Trump is not going after Cruz on any issue specifically because he wants to keep the people who are supporting Cruz in his polls.

VAUSE: You mentioned it's not just Trump who is going after Cruz on this, so there was these comments by John McCain, he said, "Hey, now that's an interesting issue". Yeah, this is the funny thing about John McCain, you know, this just seemed to be like total pay back coming from Senator McCain.

RESTON: Absolutely.

VAUSE: Who does not have a lot of love for Ted Cruz.

RESTON: And does not have a lot of love for Ted Cruz and what was so ironic and fascinating about McCain coming out on that front. Is just that it shows you sort of how deep that reservoir of loading against Ted Cruz is in the Republican Party ...

VAUSE: Yeah.

RESTON: ... and we haven't, you know, we see not in bits in pieces but as he becomes a much more formidable candidate as you see him surging in Iowa with this very strong ground organization.

[00:25:02] VAUSE: We will see both the loading?

RESTON: You'll see more of the loading coming forward and will be interesting to see, you know, how much that hurts Cruz because so much of his image is tied up in the idea that he is this up start that everyone hates ...

VAUSE: Yeah.

RESTON: ... but at some point you have to govern and work with people.

VAUSE: Yeah.

RESTON: So we'll see how the American people as sort of perceive e that. VAUSE: Well, you know, for John McCain, the arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends toward revenge. Maeve, thank you for being with us.

RESTON: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Well in new scare for the city already on edge. Up next we get the very latest in Paris where police killed a knife-wielding man as he tried to enter a police station.

And in Syria, are you desperate need for aid after disturbing images reveal civilians starving to death in the rebel (ph) of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back everybody you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: U.S. President Barack Obama spent more than an hour Thursday night laying out his case who is strictly gun laws (ph).

[00:30:00] Gun rights advocates pressed the president on how he is working to make America safe. Mr. Obama said, he's not trying to take guns away from law abiding owners.

At least 50 people dead in a truck bombing in Western Libya. The town's mayor says that the vehicle plowed in their group of about 400 people at a police training center and then exploded.

Authorities say they don't know yet who is behind the attacked. In Paris, investigator say, they're working to learn more about a knife- wielding man shot and killed as he tried to enter a police station. It happened almost a year to the minute of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. CNN's Atika Shubert has details and there are some disturbing images in her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Police say the man approached the station, brandishing a meat clever yelling, "Allahu Akbar, God is great." Woman who saw the attack disputed that he had a knife, she did not want to be identified.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER [through translation]: She said, he had cables or strings coming out of his coat and he had his hands in the air. Police shouted at him to get back and when he didn't, they shot him three times.

SHUBERT: A remote control device checked the body for what appeared to be a suicide vest. Police now say that device was fake, also found a rambling note handwritten in Arabic stamp with the black flag of ISIS.

BERNARD CAZENEUVE, FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER [through translation]: The person who carried out this attack and who died in the immediate aftermath to the police gunfire. We need a formal identification process in due course. This is to determine this person's motivations, more information will be provided in the near future.

SHUBERT: This is the closest police will allow us to the scene. If you can see, still very much a heavy police presence here, they've asked residents to stay inside or stay away. There was this school very close to where it is happened and the children inside were in lockdown for several hours. And this is the sad reality of Paris today that residents fear that violence like this could strike at any time, anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Foreign Language).