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South Korea Blasts North Korea with Propaganda at DMZ; Chinese Stock Rebounding, Mixed Asia-Pacific Results; Reports: People Starving in Syria; Paris Shooting on "Charlie Hebdo" Attack Anniversary; Obama Makes His Case for Tougher Gun Laws; North Korea Says Prepared for More Sanctions; Ted Cruz's Eligibility for President Questioned. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 08, 2016 - 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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[02:00:39] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta.

South Korea is blasting anti-North Korea propaganda at the Demilitarized Zone through 10 loud speakers.

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ALLEN: The broadcasts began several hours ago in response to Pyongyang's claim on Wednesday that it detonated a hydrogen bomb. In the past, North Korea sometimes answered these broadcasts with artillery fire. Right now, the South's military is increasing its defensive posture along the border.

Paula Hancocks joins us live from Seoul, South Korea, with more.

These broadcasts over the border seem somewhat innocuous, but they've caused much tension and more in the past, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, luckily, this is part of South Korea's psychological warfare. They've done this many times in the past. There was a fair period of time where they didn't do it for maybe a decade. Then back in August of last year when tensions -- or back in the summer when tensions were ratcheted a lot higher they started them once again. They brought them down at the end of the month and now they are starting them again. But they know that this annoys Pyongyang. Seoul knows that they will get a reaction and they know this does hurt the North Korean regime. We did see back in August that the North Koreans fired in the direction of these loud speakers because they were so angry with them. The reason being, that they are broadcasting anti-regime messages. They're broadcasting facts about South Korea, the economy, and then also about North Korea and its economy, and what the regime is really doing. And so they're trying to bring the truth, according to those who are involved in it, to the North Korean people. They're playing other things and that annoys the North Korean regime, as well. So Seoul knows, by doing this, they are going to anger their neighbor, they know there may be repercussions, and certainly this will ratchet up the tensions here -- Natalie?

ALLEN: On the surface, it seems imbalanced. You have North Korea claiming to set off a hydrogen bomb and South Korea just blasts messages. The big picture, what other options would South Korea have?

HANCOCKS: Well, this is certainly only one of the options that South Korea would be pushing for far more. We know they have been pushing the United States and their other allies to do more. They've -- the president here has been talking to the U.S. President Barack Obama. They've said there needs to be more tangible, more robust sanctions and this is ongoing in the United Nations. The Security Council will be meeting about this. And certainly this is only one small part of what South Korea wants. They would like further sanctions. They have said that. They said that before North Korea even carried out this nuclear test in order to try and stop them.

ALLEN: Paula Hancocks, for us live in South Korea. Paula, thank you.

More about the U.S. response. Secretary of State John Kerry says China needs to step up and change how it deals with North Korea. China is the reclusive country's only real ally in the Asia-Pacific. Kerry says China's current strategy is not working.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: China had a particular approach that it wanted to make. And we agreed and respected to give them space to be able to implement that. But today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear, that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.

We agreed that we will work very closely together to determine the steps that we can take in order to address our increasing concerns about that nuclear test.

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ALLEN: CNN is the only U.S. broadcaster reporting from inside North Korea. Coming up in our next half hour, an exclusive report from our Will Ripley and what North Korean officials told him.

Chinese stocks appear to be rebounding, although results in the Asia- Pacific region are mixed. The trading day is done in Tokyo where the Nikkei finished slightly lower. The Hang Seng is up .93 percent. The Shanghai Composite up 1.98 percent. And the S&P ASX 200 is down slightly. The U.S. markets lost major ground on Thursday. The Dow and the S&P on Thursday both fell 2.3 percent. The NASDAQ was down more than 3 percent.

Let's go live now to Beijing as CNN's Matt Rivers continues to follow the region and the troubling days that we begin 2016 -- Matt? [02:05:51] MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very rough start to the

new year here in China. But as you mentioned, the markets will stabilize here on Friday. Actually, closing up. The Shanghai Composite closing up just under 2 percent. The key index here in China, the CSI 300, closing up just over 2 percent. Much better news here on Friday than we saw yesterday when trading was automatically halted. It was halted by circuit breakers that were installed by Chinese regulators that just started working this week. They were installed to start at the beginning of 2016. And the circuit breakers were designed to automatically halt trading once losses in the markets here in China hit 7 percent. Now, they were supposed to halt trading to give investors time to relax, a time to perhaps reflect and hopefully stabilize the markets. But many observers here in China all week long have said they've had kind of the opposite effect. It was late last night that Chinese regulators told investors that they would now be suspending use of those circuit breaker breakers. They were not in use today. So that could have something to do with the Friday stability that we saw.

We asked one stock market expert a little earlier today in Hong Kong about the suspension of those circuit breakers.

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ANDREW SULLIVAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HALTONG INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES: I think it's quite wise. They hadn't worked in the way they hoped it might work. I think the real reason there is the circuit breakers were initially introduced in the U.S. to stop computers and algos racing against each other. That's not really the sort of market that China is. China is very much more a retail investor market where they actually go down to their brokerage and put in their own orders. It's not like you've got computers that are just going to run haywire.

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RIVERS: And so these ordinary investors, these everyday people were looking at the actions taken by these circuit breakers and it was making them even more nervous and causing them to short sell and get out of the markets for the day. So perhaps the fact that these circuit breakers are no longer in use, a good sign for Chinese market stability.

ALLEN: Hope so. What about the falling currency, is that still an issue?

RIVERS: That absolutely is still an issue. The currency valuation has stabilized here on Friday. But it was Wednesday night into Thursday morning that the Chinese government devalued the Yuan to its lowest level since 2011. And many observers here questioned the timing of that. You know, we had that 7 percent drop in the automatic halt of trading on Monday. While we didn't see such losses on Tuesday and Wednesday, you could easily say the markets here were in a fragile state. So many observes were questioning the Chinese central bank and grasp of market dynamics. Did they understand that by devaluing the currency Wednesday night into Thursday morning what kind of effect that would have in the markets on Thursday? You saw a tremendous sell off on Thursday, in part, due to that devaluation. Moving forward, many people are questioning the Chinese government's ability to be able to control volatility on their markets.

ALLEN: We'll continue to watch it.

Matt Rivers. Thank you, Matt, live in Beijing.

Next here on CNN NEWSROOM, a side of the Syrian civil war few have seen and we certainly have seen a lot of horrific sides. Amid all the battles and bombings and gunfire, a different sort of danger exists, and that is hunger. And we have some difficult images coming up of that situation.

Also ahead, Iran accusing Saudi Arabia of intentionally striking its embassy in Yemen. We'll have more on the escalating tensions between these countries.

Keep it here. Much more of CNN NEWSROOM right after this.

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[02:13:38] ALLEN: Our next story contains videos and pictures difficult to watch. Although the images have not been independently confirmed, they purport to show people starving in Syria, including babies. The U.N. says there are credible reports of civilians dying of starvation in the city of Madaya. It has been under siege since July, cut off by government forces and those of their Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. Tens of thousands of people there are at risk. Syria has agreed to allow aid convoys into the city to help the people you see.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we're hearing from people inside Madaya is similar to the reports that we have seen and witnessed ourselves with the people who left the city, people living on grass, eating grass, and people living for days eating nothing. Just, you know, some reports of severe cases of malnutrition. We've seen children leaving the city of Hans looking like they are only 2 years old while they are 6 years old. The same scenario we're going to be seeing. People are living with nothing. This is an area that's completely besieged and surrounded by mountains covered in snow. So the little food that gets in is extremely expensive. And we expect, also, that irreversible damage to some of these children who have witnessed some of the worst weapons of war, which is starving them.

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[02:15:11] ALLEN: And, of course, those are the people who have been left behind and can't leave and have been somewhat forgotten.

The war has forced millions of Syrians to seek refuge in other countries, as we've been reporting and chronicling for over a year. The journey for so many is dangerously and extremely agonizing.

Listen as one young father reflects on his family's harrowing crossing into Europe.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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ALLEN: Thank goodness she was OK. Well, a new year, how many more stories like those will we hear.

Saudi Arabia says it will investigate claims that its war planes launched an intentional strike on Iran's embassy in Yemen. The accusation comes from Iran which says the building was damaged and several embassy personnel were wounded. CNN cannot independently confirm the embassy was hit. Residents in the area reported a small exPLOsion, but no obvious air strike.

Tensions between the two countries escalated when Saudi Arabia announced that it executed 47 people last week, including Shiite cleric, Nimr al Nimr. That sparked these violent protests at the Saudi embassy in Shiite-led Iran.

CNN's Nic Robertson met exclusively with al Nimr's brother in Saudi Arabia.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The police tell us it's not safe for us to drive in here by ourselves. They're bringing us in, in one of their armored personnel carriers.

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ALLEN: Nic will join us live in a couple of hours with more on his exclusive report.

But next, a new scare for a city already on edge. We get the latest from Paris where police killed a knife-wielding man as he tried to enter a police station.

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[02:22:49] ALLEN: In Paris, investigators are looking to learn more about a knife-wielding man shot and killed by police after he tried to enter a police station. It happened almost one year to the minute of the "Charlie Hebdo" terrorist attack.

Let's bring in Erin McLaughlin who is following this story for us from Paris -- Erin?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Natalie. Authorities have yet to publicly announce the name of yesterday's alleged attackers. But we are getting some more information about his background. This coming from France's justice minister, Christiane Taubira. And she says that he was known to police for petty crimes. Authorities, though, she said, had no info of, quote, "violent radicalization." She also said that the ISIS flag that was found printed on a piece of paper on the man's body, she said that it's unclear, authorities are trying to determine whether or not that that was a sign of actual allegiance to ISIS or, in her words, some sort of mental disorder.

She also told French media that, given the situation, more isolated attacks such as this one are expected. So it seems that authorities here are very much treating yesterday's incident as a lone-wolf style attack and it does go to illustrate sort of the nature of the threats that French authorities here are working to deal with. Not only are they working to prevent any potential attackers from carrying out an attack the likes of which terrorized this city back in November. But they're dealing with the so-called copycats, the so-called lone wolfs, people acting out on their own volition. Those kinds of attacks, authorities here acknowledge, are very difficult to predict, very difficult to prevent.

Now, yesterday's incident took place as French President Francois Hollande was giving his address in which he announced that they will increase security in France, some 5,000 personnel, police officers, in addition to the already heightened security presence. But given the number of soft target here in France, the question, of course, is that enough? What more can authorities do?

[02:25:14] ALLEN: Yes, yes, that is a big, big question. We know there's so many more officers on the street, though, of Paris.

Erin McLaughlin for us live from our bureau. Thank you.

The men accused of assaulting women in Cologne, Germany, during New Year's Eve celebrations could face deportation if there were migrants. That's according to Germany's justice minister. The victims reported their attackers were men of Arab or North African descent. The police have not confirmed whether the suspects identified so far are asylum seekers. The incident has fueled a political firestorm over immigration and victim's rights, including these protests in Cologne Thursday.

The U.S. president brought gun control center stage on Thursday to clarify his proposed actions. We'll have highlights from the town hall and why a prominent advocate for gun ownership said he didn't attend the meeting.

Plus, the latest round of attacks on the U.S. Republican presidential candidate is coming from the Republicans themselves. We'll break down their bickering.

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[02:30:15] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. We want to welcome our viewers joining us from the United States. And welcome back to our international viewers. I'm Natalie Allen.

Let's check our top stories.

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ALLEN: We're hearing a lot of reaction as you might imagine to U.S. President Barack Obama's remarks Thursday night during a town hall on guns in America. Mr. Obama defended the executive actions he proposed earlier this week while speaking to and taking questions from an audience of gun rights supporters and gun control advocates.

In a new CNN/ORC poll, two-thirds of Americans say they are in support of Mr. Obama's executive actions. Broken down along party lines, 85 percent of Democrats, 65 percent of Independents and just over half of Republicans surveyed say they favor the president's ideas.

Mr. Obama laid out why he wants to see tougher restrictions for gun buyers. They include more extensive background checks, more money for mental health care, and new technology to make guns safer to use.

He also addressed the theory that he's trying to strip Americans of their constitutional right to own firearms.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of us can agree that it makes sense to keep guns out of the hands of those who may cause harm or to do themselves harm, because every year we're losing 30,000 people to gun violence. Two-thirds of those are actually suicides. Hundreds of kids under the age of 18 are being shot or shooting themselves, often by accident, many of them under the age of 5. And so if we can combine gun safety with sensible background checks and some other steps, we're not going to eliminate gun violence but we will lesson it. And if we take that number from 30,000 down to, let's say, 28,000, that's 2,000 families who don't have to go through what the families of Newtown or San Bernardino or Charleston went through.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I want you to meet Tia Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle, former Navy SEAL, author of "American Sniper." Tia wrote a book "American Wife, A Memoir of Love, War, Faith and Renewal."

Tia, we're happy you're here. What do you want to ask the president?

TIA KYLE, AUTHOR & WIDOW OF CHRIS KYLE: I appreciate you taking the time to come here. I think your message of hope is something I agree with. And I think it's great. And I think by creating new laws, you do give people hope. When you talk about NRA and after a mass shooting and gun sales go up, I would argue it's not necessarily someone is going to come and take my gun away from me, but I want the hope and the hope that I have the right to protect myself, that I don't end up to be one of these families, that I have the freedom to carry whatever weapon I feel I can. Background checks aren't necessarily going to stop me from get ago gun, but I also know they wouldn't have stopped any of the people in this room from killing. So it seems like almost a false sense of hope.

OBAMA: You will be able to get your hands on a gun. Some criminals will get their hands on firearms even if there's a background check. Somebody may lie on a form. Somebody will intend to commit a crime but they don't have a record that shows up on the background check system. But 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, still drunk drivers, there's still people who don't wear their seatbelts, but over time, that violence is reduced and families are spared. That's the same thing we can do with gun ownership.

[02:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you said you've been frustrated by Congress. As a sheriff, I oftentimes get frustrated. But I don't make the laws. And I've sworn an oath to enforce the law, to uphold the Constitution, same oath you've taken. And the talk and why we're here is all of these mass shootings, and yet you've said in your executive action, it wouldn't have solved even one of these or --

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OBAMA: No, I didn't say that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well --

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OBAMA: I didn't say that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would it have solved?

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COOPER: None of the recent mass shootings, I should point out, none of the guns were purchased from an unlicensed dealer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. And that's what I am speaking to, the executive action that you mentioned earlier, aspirin, toys or cars. They're not written about in the Constitution. I want to know and I think all of us really want to get to the solution, and you said don't talk past each other. What would you have done to prevent these mass shootings and the terrorist attack?

OBAMA: The challenge we have is that, in many instances, you don't know ahead of time who is going to be the criminal. It's not -- it's not as if criminals walk around with a label saying, I'm a criminal. And, by the way, the young man who killed those kids in Newtown, he didn't have a criminal record and so we didn't know ahead of time, necessarily, that he was going to do something like that. But he was able to have get access to an arsenal that allowed him, in very short order, to kill an entire classroom with small children. And so the question then becomes, are there ways for us, since we can't identify that person all the time, are there ways for us to make it less lethal when something like that happens.

This notion of a conspiracy out there, and it gets wrapped up about concerns about the federal government. There's a long history in that. That's in our DNA. The United States was born suspicious of some distant authority.

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COOPER: But let me just jump in. Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? A lot of people believe that deeply. That they just don't -- they just don't trust you.

OBAMA: I'm sorry, Cooper. Yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy.

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OBAMA: What are you saying?

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OBAMA: Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law --

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COOPER: Not everybody -- but there's certainly --

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OBAMA: Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that.

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OBAMA: Is that controversial? Except on some websites around the country?

COOPER: There are just certain people that just have a fundamental distrust that you do not want to get -- go further and further down this road.

OBAMA: Look, I mean, I'm only going to be here for another year.

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I don't know when -- when would I have started on this enterprise, right?

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ALLEN: The president a few hours ago.

The NRA, National Rifle Association, rejected CNN's invitation to the town hall but it was not quiet on social media, sending out a series of rebuttals on Twitter. And while the town hall was going on not far from NRA headquarters, its executive director appeared on FOX News.

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CHRIS COX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: This president can talk about background checks all day long. That's just a distraction from the fact that he can't keep us safe. He supported every gun control proposal that's ever been made. He doesn't support the individual right to own a firearm. That's been the position of his Supreme Court nominees. That's been the position of his administration. So what are we going to talk about, basketball? I'm not really interested in going over and talking to the president who doesn't have a basic level or respect or understanding of the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in this country.

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ALLEN: After the town hall, we heard from both Democratic and Republican CNN political commentators, S.E. Cupp and Van Jones among them.

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S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Just because we don't want to support a slew of meaningless laws that won't make us safer doesn't mean we don't care. I also think his entire world philosophy is predicated on one uniting principal, that criminals are somehow going to submit to laws, and that requires a total suspension of disbelief. And a lot of the scenarios that he outlined tonight, that he wants to prevent, are scenarios that are already illegal. And he can't explain what new laws, what new legislation, new executive action, expanded background checks are going to prevent any of these crimes from being committed?

[02:40:00] VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Before he even announced this stuff, there was a hew and a cry. You had conservatives out there saying this is going to be the gun-grabbing apocalypse. He comes out with this modest stuff that absolutely is inside of what Republicans said. They said don't make any new laws. And he didn't. They said focus on mental health. He's asking for $500 million. They said enforce existing laws. That's what he's asking for support to do. So for me to sit here and say this president, it takes character and it takes courage to sit there and have anybody throw any question at you. Some he answered well, some he answered poorly, but I'm proud of this president tonight.

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ALLEN: And this programming note. If you missed the CNN exclusive town hall with the U.S. president, international viewers can catch an encore presentation in just a few hours. That's at 10:00 a.m. in London, 6:00 in the evening in Hong Kong.

As tensions grow on the Korean peninsula after the North's hydrogen bomb claim, officials in Pyongyang tell CNN they are really to face more sanctions. U.S. lawmakers are set to vote on tougher measures against North Korea within days.

CNN is the only U.S. broadcaster reporting from inside North Korea right now. Here's our Will Ripley.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been meeting with officials here in Pyongyang. I can tell you from their perspective this is 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 U.S. and its allies. The U.S., of course, is tied 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 their missile program, ad 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.

Things are already tense here on the peninsula after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in 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 was 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 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 defend their nation.

Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang, North Korea.

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ALLEN: Ahead here, it's been almost one year since there was terror at a super market in Paris. We look back at that day. Stay with us.

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[02:45:06] ALLEN: U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Ted Cruz, is on the defense. Two of his fellow Republicans have questioned whether he is eligible to be president due to his birthplace. We've heard this one before.

As our Jeff Zeleny tells us, the bickering among the Republicans doesn't end there.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump isn't letting go, fanning the flames about Ted Cruz's citizenship.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: He has this cloud over his head. I don't think it's going to be possible for him to do very well.

ZELENY: Today, Trump sent a message to his rival saying, "Ted, free legal advice on how to preempt the Dems on citizen issues.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to be taking advice any time soon from Donald Trump.

ZELENY: Never mind Democrats. It's Republicans raising questions. All over whether Cruz could face a legal challenge. He was born in Canada but his mother was a U.S. citizens.

Trump told Wolf Blitzer that Cruz's birthplace raises constitutional concerns.

TRUMP: There's this doubt. People have doubt. I want to win this thing fair and scare. I don't want to win on this point.

ZELENY: John McCain, who has tangled with Cruz in the Senate, once calling him a "wacky bird," added legitimacy to Trump's worry. McCain, himself was born outside the United States, was quick to distance his case from Cruz's as McCain was born on a U.S. military base.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: I think there is a question. I am not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think it's worth looking into.

ZELENY: In Iowa tonight, Cruz brushed aside McCain's comments, saying he's pulling for Marco Rubio.

CRUZ: It's no surprise that people supporting other candidates in this race are going to jump on with the silly attacks that occur as we get closer and closer to Election Day.

ZELENY: Cruz, who has emerged as one of Trump's biggest threats, said the talk was nonsense.

CRUZ: The legal issue is straight forward. The son of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.

ZELENY: He told CNN's Dana Bash he was done addressing it.

CRUZ: I'm not the going to engage in this and the reason is simple. There are far too many serious issues facing this country.

ZELENY: One more sign the fault lines in the Republican primary are becoming clear. Just watch who is feuding with whom. It's not only Trump versus Cruz, but Chris Christie versus Marco Rubio.

Christie said Rubio is too weak to be the party's nominee.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): That is the kind of person that we want to put on the stage against Hillary Clinton? I don't think so. She'll pat him on the head and cut his heart out.

ZELENY: Rubio fired back, comparing Christie and his record as New Jersey governor to Barack Obama.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Chris has a very liberal record for a Republican. Our next president has to be someone that will overturn all the damage Barack Obama has done to America, not continue it.

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ALLEN: Our Jeff Zeleny there on the campaign trail.

It has been almost one year since the terrorist attack at a kosher supermarket in Paris. Among those who crossed paths that day were two people who shared roots in the African country of Mali, one, a gunman, the other a hero.

Jim Bittermann has the story.

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[02:50:02] JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For one dramatic moment, parallel lives came together. They would end in radically different ways.

For terrorist, Amedy Coulibaly, it was in a hail of police gunfire. The gunmen had killed four people and taken hostages at a kosher supermarket. And then police took control.

Coulibaly grew up in the tough suburbs of Paris, the son of immigrants from the South African country of Mali. Early on, he fell into petty crime and drug dealing and eventually radical Islam.

But that deadly day a year ago, there was another immigrant from Mali, Lassana Bathily, a box boy at the kosher supermarket. If his fellow countryman turned out to be a terrorist, Bathily turned out to be a hero

LASSANA BATHILY, MALI IMMIGRANT (through translation): I opened the door of the freezer and I said come, come.

BITTERMANN: Bathily sheltered shoppers and coworkers in the store's basement freezer, stood up to the terrorists and then slipped out by a freight elevator to tell police what the situation was inside. People called him a hero.

BATHILY (through translation): No, no, not a hero. I always live like that. I was raised like that, to help other people, to aid those in trouble. My parents talk me that.

BITTERMANN: All of those he protected made it out of the store without injury. And when the government heard about the young Malian's role in the hostage-taking, his live began to paint. For years he had been on a waiting list to become a permanent resident in France. But officials did him one better and, practically overnight, made Bathily a French city. He wrote a book about his experience and now he works for the Paris city government.

So how is it that an immigrant from Mali became a hero and the son of Malian immigrants became a terrorist? Bathily has several explanations, but topping the list are family and education. Out in his gritty Paris suburb, Coulibaly grew up in large and very poor family, the only boy among 10 children, a much different upbringing than that of Bathily in Mali.

BATHILY (through translation): If you wanted to the anything, it was your parents who decide, who said you have to do this, you have to go there, you should do that. It's that which makes a difference.

BITTERMANN: But there are other differences. Bathily left his homeland with an immigrant's burning desire to find a new life and to become a success. The homegrown terrorist, unemployed and on the fringes of French society, never had a sense, a social worker once said, of purpose or of right and wrong.

Two young Frenchmen whose paths crossed one decisive day last January.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

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ALLEN: Interesting story from Jim there.

Well, a large bushfire in Western Australia nearly doubled in size Thursday.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us with more about it -- Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. It's very impressive and, as you said, doubled overnight, which didn't give the folks much time to get their belongings, get out of their homes.

Here is some of the video coming into us recently from the overnight hours. You can see a lot and fire widespread in a lot of these areas. It's not just the fires. He is the dry conditions we've been dealing with. Here's a look at the Western Australia fires. So where it's located, the western portion south of the city of Perth. There are a few bush fires jut south of Perth. This is where we've seen some of the biggest problems recently in the last couple of days. Again, you can see the countless numbers of fires. They even had a few firefighters that were treated for burns because of how quickly these bush fires were able to spread and get out ahead of them. This is some of the area. This is a heavily populated area. Again, 7,000 people were without power at one point. Hundreds of power poles just burned and that was the cause for a lot of those power outages. We will notice a change in the wind direction. It's been going off course and going to change over the coming days and that's good news.

Another thing to talk about is how much rain they've had in the northern end of the country. The dark blue shade is the highest amount of precipitation. The blue areas are above average, but the area in the center is the basin. So all of those rivers and streams that picked up record or well above average rainfall flow into this basin. Again, at the bottom of the basin is Lake Aire (ph). Not very big. In December, it gets bigger and in January because it takes a long time for that water to flow in. If it's at its fullest, it ends up being the largest lake in Australia. And we're certainly headed towards that, especially if they get even more rain. And we'll have to keep a close eye on that over the coming weeks.

[02:55:08] ALLEN: All right, Allison, thanks. We'll see you in just a little bit.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has come out in the last few minutes with its nominees for the best in film and television. Nominees for the BAFTA awards in the best film category are "Carol,"" Spotlight," the "Remnant," "The Big Short" and "Bridge of Spies." Nominated for outstanding British film are "It's Machina," "45 Years," "The Danish Girl" and "The Lobster" and "Amy." Nominated for leading actress, Cate Blanchett for "Carol," Brie Larson for "Room," Alicia Vikander, for "The Danish Girl" and Maggie Smith for "The Lady in the Van." And nominated for best performance by a leading actor, Eddie Raedmayne, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender and Matt Damon and Brian Cranston. Winners will be announced at London's Royal Opera House on February 14th.

'Tis the season for the awards shows. Next hour right here, film critic, Richard Fitz Williams, will join me from London. We'll get his take on all of these nominations.

I have a lot of movies to see.

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