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Newly Released E-Mails Show Government Officials Dismissive of Flint Water Complaints; 50 Million Americans in Path of Winter Storm; Mos Def Jailed in Africa; Report to be Released in Investigation of Putin Critic's Death; Sanders Versus Clinton in the Polls; Falling Oil Prices Continue; Austria to Change Refugee Policy; Jason Rezaian Makes First Public Appearance. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 21, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: New revelations of how the State of Michigan botched the Flint water crisis. Newly released e- mails show how it unfolded.
Plus, nearly 50 million Americans are in the path of a dangerous and historic winter storm.
And later, rapper and actor Mos Def is jailed in South Africa. Now he's rapping about his dilemma with Kanye West's help.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN HOST: Interesting stuff. This is our second hour. Big welcome to our viewers in the States and all around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.
CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
And we begin this hour with troubling new details in the lead contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The governor has released all of his e-mails about the situation. They include comments from one staffer who says it was the city's problem, not the state governments.
BARNETT: Another says, quote, "Some in Flint are taking the very sensitive issue of children's exposure to lead and trying to turn it into a political football, claiming the departments are underestimating the impacts on the populations and particularly trying to shift responsibility to the state."
CHURCH: Meanwhile, Michigan lawmakers have approved $28 million in emergency funding to deal with the crisis, but the mayor says fixing the damage could cost as much as 1.5 billion.
BARNETT: The White House has sent an envoy to Flint to help coordinate federal efforts. U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the issue during a visit to Detroit Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: You can't
shortchange basic services that we provide to our people and that we, together, provide as a government to make sure that public health and safety is preserved.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Joining me now from Flint, Michigan is Leanne Walters. She's a resident turned activist who started what she is fighting for after her son had lead poisoning.
Leanne, thanks so much for your time and for speaking with us here on CNN today. First, I just want to know, when did you know something was wrong with the water there? And tell me about how it affected your son, Gavin.
LEANNE WALTERS, FLINT, MICHIGAN RESIDENT: Well, it was kind of putting puzzle pieces together. We were experiencing hair loss. He was experiencing weight loss. Lost appetite and rashes. As it went forward, we started getting brown water through our taps.
And at that point, we quit drinking the water. We got doctor's notes because he has a compromised immune system. And we took a video of him getting in and out of the bath, what his skin looked like before a bath and what it looked like afterwards, and you could actually see a water line across his stomach from the waist down from being submerged.
So, we were requesting lead and copper tests for our children, and the doctors were denying us on that. And then the city started testing at the house and we got our first lead test back.
BARNETT: And how did it feel for you as a mother, as the protector, as the provider to try and be doing the best -- you try to take -- go to doctors, you try to share this information with officials, they were kind of denying that there was an issue. How did that feel for you seeing what you and your family were going through?
WALTERS: It was utterly frustrating. I mean, how do you go into a doctor's office and be told that they won't do for you what your kid needs to have done?
BARNETT: Now yesterday, I spoke to Curt Guyette, he's the ACLU investigative journalist helping to tell your story and those of other residents. He said there is still an effort to discredit the scientists and the doctors who confirmed things were much worse than local officials were claiming.
Are officials as accepting of blame as you would like them to be, and if not what do you want to see from them?
WALTERS: Absolutely not. They're slow to react and the fact that everybody tried to minimize what was going on before it got caught in the light of day, they need to take responsibility for their actions. And they need to make this right with the people.
There is no trust there anymore. And it continues even to today. It's still continuing with the things that we're hearing and the things that we're experiencing in Flint.
BARNETT: Well, let's talk about what's happening now. The governor addressed the state. He said he will fix this. You met with EPA officials on Tuesday. Because you think there needs to be better federal rules and guidelines in the first place, specifically revising the federal lead and copper rule.
What is that exactly? How can that help others? And do you think the governor is at least moving in the right direction here?
WALTERS: Well, what it is. Is that right now they're testing with the lead and copper rule with loopholes? There's three loopholes that the State of Michigan uses that minimizes lead.
[03:05:03] And in November, I went and spoke at the National Drinking Water Advisory Committee against the recommendations they're making now because they're making suggestions that will weaken an already flawed system. And if that happens there's the potential for this to happen throughout the United States.
So, that's why we were up there yesterday speaking with the EPA to let them know that, you know, we do care and that this is not acceptable. I mean, for instance, the City of Flint, after everything that just happened, they're still testing incorrectly. How? How are you still doing that when this is going on right now and a state of emergency has been called?
BARNETT: The only silver lining here is that this issue is putting you in a position to help other people possibly. I'm just wondering how your health is now and that of your son and your family in the wake of all this.
WALTERS: Well, my son is still struggling. He's still dealing with the anemia. He's only gained 3.5 pounds in the last year. And he'll be 5 in March. He's 35.8 pounds. He developed some speech issues that we're working on.
And with his compromised immune system, we just have to be diligent to stay on top of things and catch things -- catch things as they come up to see what the future's going to look like.
BARNETT: Well, it's pretty incredible all that you've been through already. We wish you the best of luck with all of your efforts. Leanne Walters, resident and activist from Flint, Michigan. Thanks for your time today.
WALTERS: Thank you.
CHURCH: Just horrifying to think of the impact that is going to have on children, babies particularly. And of course those babies who were inside their moms' womb at the time, the impact is just going to be so long-term. BARNETT: And we heard the mayor reference that earlier, the former --
the former mayor saying we can't quantify how much it will cost to fix this because people's lives have been changed.
CHURCH: Yes, exactly right. Turn to the weather now. And right now, 50 million people on the U.S. East Coast are in the path of what could be one of the biggest snowstorms ever recorded. Icy conditions have caused car wrecks left and right in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Officials are asking everyone to stay home if they can.
BARNETT: Even President Obama's motorcade had a hard time getting over the ice, as you see there. In Virginia State, police reported 163 car accidents, all of them due to slippery conditions.
CHURCH: And our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri joins us now from the international weather center with more. This is just going to be a mess. And 50 million people in its path.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's the key right there. Just the number of people that are going to be dealing with this inside the next couple of days. I just did the math on this. Because about eight million people underneath a blizzard watch across portions of Washington, D.C. right now. And also, around Baltimore.
You think about eight million people and you think about where blizzards most likely happen in the United States there, most typical around parts of Minnesota, the parts of North Dakota down into Wyoming. The State of North Dakota has about 800,000 people. The state of Wyoming as a whole has about 500,000 people.
And again, eight million people in a small, densely, populate region there geographically speaking going to be in line with blizzard-like conditions inside the next couple of days going in from Friday into Saturday.
But look at this. The heavy snowfall that's forecast at this point looks more likely around Washington. Points to the south around the Delmarva region certainly. Up around Philly and New York gets in on the moderate snow end. Farther north you travel pretty stark cutoff line as far as the amount of snow that is forecast to fall across this region.
And here's the model indication right now to share with you. And notice the nation's capital literally under the bulls eye there for some of the heaviest snowfall you will ever see across this region of the world, now if we're at one particular storm. And then you work your way to the north, dramatic cutoff line right around say, a northern portions, just North of New York City as you work your way toward southern areas of Massachusetts, northern areas of Connecticut.
That's where we think is really going to be a challenging forecast because of course, the population quite high in this region as well. And the impacts could be far, far lower than areas to the south where snowfall could be two or three times that amount.
But you take a look at the historic snowstorms in Washington, D.C. history and going back to the 1890s. These are the highest numbers we've ever seen as far as inches of snow coming down from one particular storm system.
So, 24-plus inches if that verifies would certainly put it in the historic mark of snowstorms. Then there's plenty of winds associated with the storm system as well, 45 to 55-mile-per-hour gusts. This would be in the early morning hours. Expansive travel delays across this region would be a likelihood. Stretching out of Washington all the way northward as well.
This time of year of course, when you look at these sort of storms and north Easters, in particular, you have to think about what is the lunar cycle like. And we know a full moon is upon us come Saturday as well. That's another element to think about because a storm surge certainly going to be impacted by this.
Coastal erosion going to be really high as well when it comes to strong winds damaging the coast when a -- with this storm system as it interacts with the already high tide in place. But let's show you something here.
I show you the forecast for these major cities around the northeast and bring in some of the snowfall forecast in place right now. Washington, D.C. at this point around 20 inches is what the consensus is with the models.
[03:10:01] New York around six inches. The numbers certainly could change dramatically as they already have initially. The forecast had around 30 in Washington, and about 10 in New York and even Boston could get a couple of inches out of this.
But again, very fine detail as far as how much snow is expected to come down. And that will be fine-tuned in the next few days as we approach this storm system, approaching land on Friday, guys.
BARNETT: I did not realize that the moon was going to make all this worse.
JAVAHERI: The timing of the moon, yes. The full moon on Saturday will definitely impact the storm surge as well.
BARNETT: OK. Prep if you can, everyone. Pedram, thanks a lot.
JAVAHERI: Thank you.
BARNETT: In just over an hour, British authorities are set to release the final report of the investigation into the death of a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
CHURCH: Alexander Litvinenko died in 2006 after being poisoned with a radioactive chemical in a London hotel. Nic Robertson takes a look at the investigation and the diplomatic backlash that followed his death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: When this picture was taken, 20th of November, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko knew he was dying. Even claiming he knew who had killed him with the rare radioactive poison polonium 210, authorizing this statement on his death.
ROBIN TAM, LAWYER TO LITVINENKO INQUIRY: You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.
ROBERTSON: The former KGB spy-turned British agent had fled Russia in 2000, and was increasingly critical of President Vladimir Putin. He said Russia orchestrated apartment bombings that killed hundreds and led to Russia's invasion of Chechnya.
In the days before he died, he told police he suspected the poison had been planted in tea he drank here three weeks earlier, in the upmarket central London Millennium Hotel. He told police he was having a business meeting with two Russians, his former KGB associate, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun.
Hotel security cameras caught vital moments. Minutes apart, both Lugovoi and Kovtun visit reception, then the lobby bathroom. Traces of the poison polonium 210 were later found in the bathroom, on the chairs where the three met, and in the teapot Litvinenko drank from.
So serious the evidence and allegations the British government opened an inquiry. Putin was robust in his denials of involvement.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Alexander Litvinenko was fired from security forces where he served in convoy; ministry of the interior didn't possess any secrets.
ROBERTSON: Denials escalated to tit for tat expulsion of diplomats. When Russia refused extradition of Lugovoi to face trial in the U.K. both Lugovoi and Kovtun deny allegations and Russia refuses to extradite them.
ANDREI LUGOVOI, INVESTIGATED ON LITVINENKO'S DEATH: Regarding my position on traces of polonium, I think these questions should be addressed to U.K. security services as they had direct involvement in whatever was going on around Litvinenko.
ROBERTSON: It is a denial the British police say doesn't stand up against the huge weight of evidence they have and until both Lugovoi and Kovtun stand trial in the U.K. Litvinenko's murder remains an open case.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We'll take a short break here. But still to come, Hillary Clinton is brushing off a new report that says her private e-mail server contained classified information. But Donald Trump isn't leaving it alone. Hear reaction from both presidential candidates. That's coming up.
[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WORLD SPORTS)
CHURCH: Bernie Sanders would do better than Hillary Clinton in match- ups with republican presidential candidates. That is according to a survey in New Hampshire. The latest CNN/WMUR poll shows Sanders leading all five republicans tested.
BARNETT: That is pretty incredible when you consider that Clinton would face much tighter races against those same republicans. And this comes as both candidates reach out to voters in another key state, Iowa.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Iowa!
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Bernie Sanders is no Barack Obama. Or is he?
SANDERS: In 2008, Barack Obama ran one of the great campaigns in the history of this country. He rewrote the caucus rule book right here in Iowa. Unbelievable.
ZELENY: In the state that launched the president's path to the White House.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They said this day would never come.
ZELENY: Sanders is hoping that old Obama magic rubs off.
SANDERS: Now, I'm not saying that we can replicate that. But I think any objective look at our campaign and the energy and the excitement that it is generating with young people and with working people, compare that to Secretary Clinton's campaign.
(APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING)
ZELENY: Sanders is riding a wave of momentum. With a stunning 27- point lead over Clinton in a new CNN/WMUR poll in New Hampshire. Today, Bill Clinton urged voters there to take another look.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We're on a home field disadvantage here. But the real issue is who can win the election, who's prepared to do the job, who can make real change.
ZELENY: And Secretary Clinton fought back in a new TV ad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The person who lives here has to solve problems as big as the world and as small as your kitchen table. ZELENY: But Sanders is trying to repeat Obama's feat eight years ago, showing Clinton's not invincible.
OBAMA: I can't do it by myself. And that's why we're here today. That's why we're canvassing. Because in our history change has always happened from the bottom up.
[03:20:06] ZELENY: It's an open question whether Sanders, a 74-year- old, democratic socialist, can replicate Obama's massive organization.
SANDERS: I think we've got a real shot to win here, and I'm feeling really, really good.
ZELENY: A record-setting 239,000 people took part in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. Party officials believe turnout will be far lower this time because Sanders hasn't spent a year building a robust team. To gin up excitement, Sanders is going hard after the value of Clinton's experience.
SANDERS: She was Secretary of State for four years. That gives you a lot of experience. Dick Cheney had a hell of a lot of experience. God help us all.
ZELENY: Secretary Clinton took exception to those comments about Dick Cheney. She said she spent eight years fighting the Bush-Cheney administration in the Senate, and four more years as Secretary of State, quote, "cleaning up his mess."
Now, this race is getting intense and nasty on the democratic side of the campaign. With about a week and a half to go, undecided voters will decide this race.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Des Moines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: And now this important crunch time. There's additional political challenges mounting. Hillary Clinton faces this new report. It says her private e-mail server contained classified intelligence from top secret programs.
CHURCH: The report to congressional committee members said two agencies flagged e-mails on the server as containing classified information. The Inspector General said this included some in the highest top secret level of classification.
BARNETT: Now, the report says there are several dozen e-mails in question. Clinton commented on the report in an interview with NPR.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This seems to me to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign. It's another leak. I'm just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Joining me now to talk about all of this is CNN legal analyst Philip Holloway. He's also a former U.S. Navy JAG officer. You know about the legal angle of all of this. Outside of the politics, but the Clinton camp says this is part of the republican effort to derail her.
Donald Trump says, hey, she's just afraid of going into the clink as he called it. But objectively, how serious is this?
PHILIP HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I'm glad you mentioned the word objectively because it is important to remain objective. You have to understand, once this information, this referral is made to the Justice Department, they have no real choice but to investigate this and they have to do so in a very thorough fashion.
If there's going to be a smoking gun, and it is a big if, it's going to be the existence of the server in Hillary Clinton's home and potentially the thumb drive that was at one time in possession of her attorney. Now, we do know that that thumb drive was later placed in a safe provided to him by the State Department.
But what we don't know is whether or not the classified material that was contained on that thumb drive was ever compromised in any way or potentially compromised. So it's the storage of this material that could be the big problem.
BARNETT: So, you're saying the fact that it was even on a thumb drive is an issue. Now, the FBI still has to investigate all of this. Another agency.
Our CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, he's a former prosecutor. He says that investigation is likely to hang on a very important point. Just listen to what he had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Now, under the rules information can still be classified even though it's not marked classified. And that's what appears to be the conclusion of the people who've looked at these documents after the fact.
The FBI, almost certainly, will not prosecute her if she is simply dealing with information that after the fact turns out to be classified. If there is information that she knew or should have known was classified and turns out -- and she turns out to have sent that around in an unclassified way, then potentially she's in a lot of trouble. But we don't know that that's the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: So, it seems that Clinton would need to admit that she knew an e-mail was classified before she sent it, right? Is that necessary here? HOLLOWAY: Sometimes that's the case. But what you have to understand
is certain type of material is classified the moment that it's born, so to speak. If you're the President of the United States or the Secretary of State or in the case of David Petraeus, maybe the head of the CIA, you have to understand that communications that you make, whether they be oral or in writing, with your counterpart in another nation, can be considered classified from the very moment they exist, whether or not someone has taken the time to stamp it or not.
So, that is -- the question of intent is obviously important. You see situations like with General Petraeus, for example. He was prosecuted for misdemeanor simply based on the way that he possessed information. Not in the proper fashion.
[03:25:01] And so, it's really not a question of whether or not Secretary Clinton was engaging in some nefarious activity with this material but really how and under what circumstances was it possessed.
BARNETT: That's interesting. Because if you listen to what Hillary Clinton and staffers are saying now, they're kind of suggesting that this could have been as mundane as sharing a news article, they say, that could have been classified.
So, they're trying to kind of say it's less serious. But how bad could this be if, say, there is an issue with the fact that these e-mails are on a thumb drive and that e-mails that were considered classified when they were born, as you say, were shared? How bad could this be?
HOLLOWAY: They would have to uncover something that really shows that she did intentionally share classified information that she took some steps to circumvent the law that were intentional in nature rather than simply negligent.
If they could find something like that she's got a very serious problem. If they don't find something like that, she still could face a problem, although it might be something as minor as General Petraeus, which he was only charged with a misdemeanor or they could elect not to prosecute her at all.
BARNETT: OK. Well, we'll see where this goes from here. Bernie Sanders said he doesn't care about her damn e-mails but it still remains an issue.
Philip Holloway, CNN legal analyst and former Navy JAG officer. Thanks for your time today.
HOLLOWAY: Happy to be here.
CHURCH: As you heard there, Trump has drawn the comparison between General David Petraeus' case and Clinton's e-mail situation.
BARNETT: Well, the U.S. Defense Department is considering whether to demote the retired general. Petraeus admitted providing classified material to an author he had a relationship with. Trump discussed this issue with Don Lemon earlier. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST, "CNN TONIGHT": What is the difference, then -- if you're saying -- because General Petraeus is accused of sharing classified information with a mistress. And you're saying Hillary Clinton shared classified information.
He was found guilty of it. And if she shared classified information from a server that you deem or people are saying is deemed not to be legal, then what is the difference there, why should he be left alone and she be prosecuted?
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, what I'm saying is she should be prosecuted. And he was. I mean, he went through -- he went through the wringer. He was really prosecuted. And you know what happened with him with suspended sentences and everything else, and it's been terrible. And she hasn't had anything yet.
So, we're going to have to see whether or not the democrats are protecting her. Because I think anybody else in that position would have been prosecuted long ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Now, before challenging Clinton, Trump, of course, has to defeat the other republican outsider, Ted Cruz.
CHURCH: Yes. And they are running neck and neck in Iowa. And a new poll shows Cruz bumping up to second place in New Hampshire. Trump told Don Lemon if Cruz is elected he won't be able to get anything done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Wonderful to go and tell the voters nobody likes you. But you're going to have to make deals. You're going to have to get the senators and congressmen and all of these people, you have to cajole them. You have to -- we've got to make deals. We can't always sign executive orders. You can't do it. That wasn't the way our founders set up this country. You understand that.
It's not part of the deal. You're supposed to get everybody together and you're supposed to come up with deals and everybody -- whether it's Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. However it works out you have to make deals.
LEMON: What is it about his temperament that people don't like?
TRUMP: They don't like him. I mean, he didn't have one senator stick up for him recently, because now people are saying he is a real problem with running because he was born in Canada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And the new CNN/WMUR poll shows Trump holding his 20-point lead in New Hampshire. He's still leading at 34 percent. BARNETT: And as you see there, Cruz is at 14 percent. But as we said
earlier, he is on the rise. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio tied for third with 10 percent each. And you see there Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Rand Paul rounding out at 6 percent.
And the Governor of Oregon is urging the U.S. government to end what she calls an intolerable situation at a wildlife refuge in her state. As you know, armed protesters have unlawfully occupied the government building since January.
CHURCH: They accuse officials of punishing ranchers for refusing to sell their land. Governor Kate Brown says she will ask the government to reimburse the $100,000 the state is spending each week on the occupation.
BARNETT: Now, this time yesterday we were reporting on the breaking news out of Pakistan. The death toll now is rising from the university attack there. We'll hear from one witness who saw the siege unfold. Stay with us.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett.
It's our last half hour with you. Let's update you on our top story.
New released e-mails show government officials were dismissive of complaints about contaminated water in Flint, Michigan. They include comments from one staffer who says it was the city's problem, not the state governments. Another called the crisis a political football.
CHURCH: People in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. are preparing for what could be a winter storm of enormous proportions. And Washington, D.C. is the bulls eye. Blizzard conditions are expected there late Friday. D.C. Could see up to 24 inches, or 60 centimeters of snow.
BARNETT: A Mexican congresswoman has been detained for alleged ties to drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Mexico's Attorney General says Lucero Sanchez used a fake I.D. to visit El Chapo in prison before he escaped last July, and Sanchez was with El Chapo on New Year's Eve before he was recaptured.
CHURCH: Falling oil prices continue to wreak havoc with the world's financial markets. Benchmark Brent crude is down again today in international trading. Currently coming in around $27 a barrel.
BARNETT: Now investors are jittery over the flood of supply. Iran is expected to release now that sanctions on Iran have been lifted.
CHURCH: In the U.S. the Dow fell by more than 560 points Wednesday before regaining some ground. It closed down 1.5 percent. The S&P was off by a little more than 1 percent. And the NASDAQ was down one-tenth of a percent.
Looking at the Asia Pacific region now and the Nikkei finished the day down nearly 2.5 percent. Trading has just ended in Hong Kong where the Hang Seng finished down almost 2 percent. The Shanghai Composite closed down more than 3 percent. And Australia's ASX 200 finished half a percent higher.
[03:34:57] BARNETT: Now of course this is a global newscast. So, we can now pivot and show you that trading's just getting under way in Europe's financial markets. Plenty of green there this morning. London's FTSE is up. Such as DAX, in fact, Paris CAC 40 and the Zurich SMI up almost a full percentage point right now.
CHURCH: All right. Joining us now live from Davos, Switzerland, CNN contributor and assistant managing editor for Time Magazine, Rana Foroohar. Thanks so much for talking with us, Rana.
So, falling oil prices are fueling these losses on global markets with more volatility ahead but for how long? When might we see some level of stability return, do you think?
RANA FOROOHAR, TIME MAGAZINE ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Well, I really think 2016 is going to be the year of volatility. You know, the global markets and the world is pivoting from what has been a multiyear period of low interest rates, easy money, relatively decent growth. That's all shifting now.
You know, you have the Fed in December hiking rates. A divergence in monetary policy between the U.S. and the rest of the world. That creates a lot of volatility. At the same time you got a slowing China and you've got this oil plunge and we don't really know yet where the floor on that is going to be.
A lot's going to depend on what happens when that Iranian supply comes into the market, and also whether this becomes a zero sum game between the Saudis and Iran as to who can grab market share right now.
If the Saudis don't stop pumping, if somebody doesn't give way, I think that you might see oil fall even lower and that's going to have a big impact on the emerging markets, which are 40 percent of the global economy right now. So, that has a big effect.
CHURCH: Well, let's look at that because there has been some pretty scary speculation going on out there. How low do you think the price of oil will likely go? What could rock bottom look like, do you think?
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I'm not going to say $10 oil yet, but I think $20 oil is a possibility, depending on how the China slowdown goes. I mean, that's a big question. And we've seen a lot of data points coming out of China in the last few days. Some of them relatively positive but a lot of them negative. You can spin the data either way.
But in the next two quarters we're going to get a better sense of whether or not consumer spending in China can actually buoy the economy and sort of stave-off what really is a big debt crisis there.
On the other hand, if you see China have a hard landing I think oil could definitely go lower. And again, that's going to have a big effect on oil-exporting nations in West Africa, in the Middle East, some in Asia. And that has a drag effect on the global economy.
You've just seen the IMF downgrade global growth forecasts for the third time this year. This is not where we expected to be, you know, eight years after the great recession.
CHURCH: Yes, and you mentioned China. Its central bank just pumped billions of dollars into the market. What sort of impact does that have on regional and other global markets?
FOROOHAR: Well, in the short term it adds a certain level of stability. And I think that may be one reason why you're seeing markets a little bit up in Europe today. I think you might see a little bit more of a recovery in the U.S. today as well.
Investors want to see that Chinese policy makers are going to support the markets. But one of the things that's happened in the last few weeks and months is that you'll see a few of these actions where policy makers will come in and try to set a floor under the market, try and reassure investors, but then they have to let the reins off at some point because China needs to transition to being more of a market economy.
That leads to the sort of herky-jerky movement in the markets and the volatility that we're talking about, which again, I think it's going to last the rest of the year.
CHURCH: Rana Foroohar, always good to hear your analysis. We appreciate it. Thanks so much.
BARNETT: I want to update you on what was our breaking news at this time yesterday. We're now told 22 people have died from the attack on a university in Pakistan. Four militants were killed in Wednesday's siege.
CHURCH: A Pakistani Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, but then another spokesman denied any role and condemned the assault. One student who was on campus during the attack spoke to CNN about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, absolutely, I'm so afraid. I'm feeling about my home that how they are feeling about me and also my country. My country is not safe also. How I will feel safe and how I will feel comfortable. I'm not feeling comfortable. So, I'm afraid. So, you can say that I'm a bit afraid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Alexandra Field is in New Delhi with more about the timing of the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It appears the attack was timed to coincide with a celebration that was happening on campus that would maximize the number of students and guests who were at the university at the time. It would also maximize the potential number of casualties. The militants who carried out this attack.
Students were there at the time we are now saying the attackers looked young, around their age, and they were armed with AK-47s.
Security forces swarm the university in Northwest Pakistan after militants storm Bacha Khan's campus.
[03:40:03] UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): We heard firing from the back of the campus, he says.
FIELD: Four attackers opened fire Wednesday morning, taking hostages and lobbing hand grenades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): Then we said get into the rooms, don't go out. Then the security forces came.
FIELD: One student says his professor was struck by a bullet while telling others to hide. Bacha Khan is in Charsadda just northwest of Peshawar, the site of another deadly school attack.
In 2014, more than 140 people were killed, most of them young schoolchildren. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that massacre. A spokesperson for the Pakistani Taliban is now claiming responsibility for this attack, calling it retaliation for military operations against the group.
But in a conflicting statement, a central commander for the group disavowed any role, condemning the attacks on civilians and saying they're not in accordance with Sharia Law.
Officials say it all could have been worse. There had been intelligence that attacks were being planned in the region. That had actually given the university some time to prepare, stepping up the security on campus. Because of the added security guards officials are saying that the attackers were contained to just one part of the campus.
In New Delhi, Alexandra Field, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: It appears a 1400-year-old Christian monastery was destroyed just months after ISIS took over Mosul in Iraq.
BARNETT: Imagery experts base that on before and after satellite pictures. You're seeing them here from 2014. But a former Iraqi adviser who left Mosul says he cannot confirm the St. Elijah Monastery is what's shown in these images.
We have a closer look at the monastery for you from back in 2009. This is when U.S. troops visited the site.
Now, Washington Post reporter, Jason Rezaian has made his first public appearance since he was freed from Iran last weekend. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you handling it, Jason? Good to be out?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Yes. Joined by his family, Rezaian mostly kept quiet and waved to journalists outside Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. He was asked -- he has asked for privacy during his recovery.
BARNETT: Now, in a written statement Rezaian says, quote, "For now I want to catch up with what's been going on in the world, watch a warriors game or two, and see the "Star Wars" movie." We can all relate with that. He also mentioned he wants to spend time with his family.
Now, asylum seekers in an English town say their homes have become targets for vandalism.
Coming up next, why they say the company that built the homes may have deliberately made them stand out. Stay with us.
[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARNETT: Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann is announcing major changes to the way the country deals with the sea of migrants and refugees crossing its border.
CHURCH: He says Austria will cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum to less than half the number it took in last year. He also says border controls will need to be stepped up.
And it's not just Europe struggling with hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees. Jordan has taken in 1.3 million Syrian refugees already, housing tens of thousands in massive camps.
BARNETT: David Miliband is the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. I spoke with him last hour at the World Economic Forum, and we talked about the length of time refugees are away from their home countries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MILIBAND, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE CEO: I think most of your viewers would be astonished to learn that the average refugee is out of their own country now for 17 years. And that has very significant implications.
First of all, it means it's essential that there's an economic component to the way in which the humanitarian system works. Essentially, people need to be able to work in the countries to which they flee, not just receive social aid. Secondly, the big theme of Davos this year, is that the refugee crisis
needs to be addressed at source in the Middle East through much greater help for countries like Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as much more effective help inside Europe.
First of all, to screen the refugees, to make sure that they are genuine refugees, secondly, to distribute them across Europe, and thirdly to make sure that Europe upholds its own standards for the way in which it treats people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: David Miliband there.
In Britain, the home office is ordering an urgent review of housing for asylum seekers in the Northeastern English Town of Middlesbrough. Media reports say the doors of their homes have been painted red.
BARNETT: And as our Hala Gorani is about to show you, many asylum seekers worry that this made their homes too easy to spot and made them targets for abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: To an outsider these red doors may look like a cheery decoration, brightening the streets of this largely industrial town in Northeast England.
But to those who live behind them they can feel like a target, as the majority belong to asylum seekers like 32-year-old Abdul Albashir.
ABDUL ALBASHIR, ASYLUM SEEKER: Painting the door red, you're telling everyone I'm asylum seeker, I'm a less person than anybody, and that I hate, I should be targeted. And that's what's happening.
GORANI: The allegations were brought to light by the Times of London, which found that many asylum seekers in the area have felt stigmatized by the red doors.
RASHID ALI, MOROCCAN ASYLUM SEEKER: I've seen the paint but I don't know exactly what it mean. And after a couple days, I know it's target because they are foreign national in this street, you know.
GORANI: After reports of arson, vandalism, and intimidation, a local politician is bringing the issue to parliament's front door and pointing a finger at the contractor, Jomast, in charge of housing asylum seekers in the area.
ANDY MCDONALD, MIDDLESBROUGH MP: Jomast has some 168 properties in two wards. A 155 of them have their front doors to the street painted red. And it simply marks out those properties and their inhabitants for those with prejudicial motivations and evil intent.
GORANI: Something that the property owner denies.
STUART MONK, JOMAST OWNER & DIRECTOR: I don't think that really the average guy walking down the street would be able to distinguish between -- to make any distinguishment between asylum houses, used houses and other properties in the street particularly.
GORANI: The company that oversees Jomast and awarded the asylum housing contract for the area says there is no policy to house asylum seekers behind red doors but promises to repaint the doors different colors. But are the doors just the tip of the iceberg in communities like Middlesbrough where the proportion of other asylum seekers is the highest in Britain? That's what one local campaigner for refugees believes.
[03:50:05] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are other issues. The housing issues like the shared rooms where people have to share a room where they've got no common language or faith or culture. There's the issue of them not having enough for them to be able to take things forward.
GORANI: A problem that may go deeper than the paint on the front doors of a few hundred asylum seekers.
Hala Gorani, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, have passport but cannot travel. Why this American actor and rapper is being detained in South Africa. We'll explain when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day. I'm CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam with a quick look at your weather watch. If you have travel plans to Washington, D.C., perhaps into New York City, things are going to get very interesting from Friday evening through the course of the weekend.
Significant amount of energy developing. First, starting across just east of the Rockies and starting to pack in some of that moisture from the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Atlantic Ocean. These are going to combine to produce a significant winter storm. Specifically, across Virginia into Maryland as well as the Delmarva Peninsula.
This is the area where we could anticipate anywhere between 50 centimeters of snowfall or more. A very heavy -- expect snowfall rates expected from Roanoke to the nation's capital even toward Philadelphia.
The further north we travel, that's where we start to get a little bit cautious with our forecast because there is a sharp gradient, meaning a cutoff with that heavy snow line. Nonetheless, we do expect strong winds and at least some snow showers for New York City, but the bulk of the snow will really be from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
You can see some of those wind gusts peaking over 60 kilometers per hour rather easily with this storm pulling off toward the East. Temperatures will be impacted as well, below freezing for much of the East Coast this weekend. The rest of the country looking fairly quiet. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: American actor and rapper Mos Def is facing charges for allegedly violating South Africa's immigration law.
BARNETT: That's right. The artist is voicing his frustration with his arrest by rapping about it online.
David McKenzie brings us details from Johannesburg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When hip-hop artist, rapper and activist Yasiin Bey, formally known as Mos Def, took out his world passport while trying to leave Cape town International, South African authorities took Bey to jail.
[03:55:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello my fellow earthling.
MCKENZIE: Yes, the world passport exists. Started by this man, Gary Davis in the 1950s, in protest against war and nation states.
You can apply for the world passport right here online. Fill out a form, and they'll send you the document for a fee. They claim it's accepted in a handful of countries.
But not in South Africa, where Bey has been living.
YASIIN BEY, HIP-HOP ARTIST: Peace. This is Yasiin.
MCKENZIE: Yasiin Bey charged with violating immigration law. Bey is speaking out with an audio clip posted on Kanye West's web site, where he announced his retirement.
BEY: I'm being prevented from leaving unjustly, unlawfully, and without any logical reason.
MCKENZIE: Bey is probably best known for his roles in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "The Italian Job."
BEY: Learn the language of poetry, art, romance, sex.
MCKENZIE: But he's also pushed political boundaries. In 2013, getting force-fed to protest Guantanamo Bay.
BEY: No more parties and I say, please. No more parties as I say.
MCKENZIE: Bey's family is now due to be deported on visa violations. He faces trial in May. Mos Def may not be leaving on a jet plane anytime soon.
David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: OK. Well, thanks for watching CNN. I'm Rosemary Church. BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Please connect with us on Twitter
anytime. Always great to hear from you. And we're off until next week. So, let us know what you're thinking. Early Start is next for those of you in the states.
CHURCH: And for our viewers elsewhere stay tuned for CNN NEWSROOM have a great night. See you.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
