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Democratic Hopefuls Make Their Case in Iowa; Trump versus Cruz Rivalry Intensifies in Iowa; manhunt for Three Escaped Convicts in California; Danish Lawmakers Set to Take Action on Refugees; Australia Celebrates Australia Day; Asia Cold Snap Causes Death, Travel Delays; Memorable Moments of Democratic Town Hall. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 26, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:12] JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, the Democrats running for president throw a few elbows and answered some pointed questions from voters at a CNN town hall. Their last big appearance before the Iowa caucuses.

Plus lawmakers in Denmark get set to vote on a controversial bill that critics say is aimed on keeping migrants out of the country.

And the California manhunt for three escaped inmates, one of whom is said to have tortured one of his victims.

Hello, everybody. Thanks for being with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

A week before the Iowa caucuses and the three Democrats running for president faced some of the toughest questions yet from a room full of potential voters. Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley and Hillary Clinton took questions from the audience at a town hall hosted by CNN. Technically this was not a debate. The candidates did not appear on stage at the same time. But that did not stop them from going after each other like they did here on foreign policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The most significant vote and issue regarding foreign policy that we have seen in this country in modern history was the vote on the war in Iraq. OK? That's the fact. I voted against the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a much longer history than one vote, which I've said was a mistake, because of the way that that was done and how the Bush administration handled it. But I think the American public has seen me exercising judgment in a lot of other ways. And in fact, when that hard primary campaign was over and I went to work for President Obama and he ended up asking me to be secretary of state, it was because he trusted my judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, for more on the town hall, I'm joined now by Democratic campaign consultant Maclen Zilber and Christina Bellantoni who is the assistant managing editor for politics at the "Lost Angeles Times."

Thanks for coming in. OK. Let's start with that little exchange there, how Senator Sanders played the "I never voted for the Iraq war but Clinton did" card. He played that twice. Clinton came back with, "But President Obama thinks I have really good judgment. I made a mistake once." So who came out on top here, Christina?

CHRISTINA BELLANTONI, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR FOR POLITICS, L.A. TIMES: Well, Sanders is doing this in part because that was Barack Obama's very successful line in 2008. He was able to say he opposed the war when she voted for it. That was one of the starkest contrasts they had because they're all Democrats. They're fairly in line on a lot of issues.

But I see this a little differently. I see this as an appeal for those younger voters because generationally they are opposed to war. They are looking at this as a judgment issue. And they are liking him for being anti-war from the get-go, even though he's much older. Even though he's from a different generation than they are. That's one of the things that they said they like about that.

VAUSE: Well, that doesn't fit with Hillary Clinton, who is seen as bit of a hawk.

MACLEN ZILBER, DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN CONSULTANT: Right. Well, Hillary is trying to show that she is Obama 2016. Pragmatic. Tied to the Iran deal. Bernie is trying to be Obama 2008. We even saw him pull out Obama's old phrase, it's about judgment and not experience.

BELLANTONI: Right.

ZILBER: Because he's hoping that these Iowa voters are going to vote on the Iraq war, just like they did back then.

VAUSE: Yes. And Hillary Clinton is playing pretty much the same campaign in some respects as she did back in 2008, the 3:00 a.m. phone call, I am the experienced one. Yes, it didn't work back then but I guess we'll see.

Health care, another big issue which really differentiate these two candidates. Bernie Sanders admitted what no politician likes to admit. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: We will raise taxes. Yes, we will. But also let us be clear, Chris. Because there's a little bit of disingenuity out there. We may raise taxes. But we are also going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and for businesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Maclen, did Bernie Sanders just write his own campaign attack ad for whoever --

(CROSSTALK)

ZILBER: I'm sure there will be many attack ads. But, you know, we're in such a silly season this year with Donald Trump, who knows? Saying I'll raise your taxes might be what it takes to stand out when we're talking about caucus goers waiting in the snow for six hours.

VAUSE: Because he's going to raise taxes on the wealthy, not the people, I guess, who will be turning out to caucus.

BELLANTONI: Of course. And, you know, people, they like to hear authenticity. You know, if Bernie Sanders were elected president, absolutely he will put forth a tax increase plan. But don't forget we've got a Republican Congress. And so that's where the sort of reality check comes in from Hillary Clinton. Regardless of which side you're coming, you have to think about this in a holistic manner. If you want to change the country, I mean, there were attempts to make universal health care -- true universal health care.

VAUSE: Yes.

BELLANTONI: Single-payer. Those all failed.

VAUSE: Yes. Medicare for all is a complete nonstarter. But it's nice to talk about it, I guess, especially if you're a Democrat.

You talked about the authenticity and how Bernie Sanders is very -- Bernie Sanders is very, you know, authentic, he's very believable.

[01:05:05] And he did that again tonight when he was asked that question about being a socialist. And he had this response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: What's going on in countries around the world, in Scandinavia and in Germany, the ideas that I am talking about are not radical ideas. So what Democratic socialism means to me in its essence is that we cannot continue to have a government dominated by the billionaire class and a Congress that continues to work if for the interest of the people on top, while ignoring working families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Christina, I wonder if this is an issue for Bernie Sanders because every time he's asked about being a socialist, he goes over to some Scandinavian country, there's a village in Sweden somewhere where they have a really good health care plan. Does that work for voters right now?

BELLANTONI: I mean, it works for the liberal voters who he needs to show up for him and the younger voters he needs to show up for him. Both in Iowa and New Hampshire and then beyond. Right. This is a long game that they are both playing. And so yes, he wants to appeal to the most liberal people out there. And a lot of people really like that. And in addition to that, he's out there saying this message, it sort of sounds like populism to me, which is one of the things Donald Trump is actually running on. It's working in not just one party right now.

VAUSE: Maclen, I also wonder if you -- just hypothetically if Sanders does get the nomination, you know, is America ready for a self- described socialist to be president?

ZILBER: I think that he's saying a lot of things that are going to put him further away from the independent voters than he'd like to be in November. That being said, again, I mean, we're in such a climate where a lot of the rules of political physics kind of feel like they've been suspended that it's possible if he is against Donald Trump that, you know, one of them has to win.

VAUSE: Well, these two guys, I see them as so far extreme on either side of the party. They sort of bend around and meet in the middle in some kind of a really bizarro way.

We talk about tough questions, perhaps the toughest question of the night was that first one that went to Hillary Clinton from the audience, where a young man stood up, and looked at the former secretary of state and said to her, you know, basically, people don't trust you. Let's listen to this -- listen to her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I've been around a long time. People have thrown all kinds of things at me. And you know, I can't keep up with it. I just keep going forward. They fall by the wayside. They come up with these outlandish things. They make these charges. I just keep going forward because there's nothing to it. They throw all this stuff at me. And I'm still standing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Does it sum up the difference between the two candidates here?

BELLANTONI: I mean, in some ways. But you know this very brave young man, you know, addresses somebody running for president and said --

VAUSE: I know.

BELLANTONI: This is what people are saying about you. That's actually accurate. In focus groups of Democrats and Republicans, you hear people talk about, that's one of the qualities they ascribe to her. And it is something she has to address and she completely ignore that question. But at the same time to be told that people don't like you for this very personal reason, like she gave a very tough answer, what you saw her doing in 2008 quite a bit.

I mean, you'll recall when Barack Obama said that she wasn't likable enough. That she said that hurt my feelings. I mean she didn't go that route tonight.

VAUSE: Right. What do you think? I mean. I just find it amazing that Hillary Clinton is yet again continuing to defend her past here. ZILBER: Right. Well, and on top of that, I mean, the couple of

questions by Chris Cuomo that preceded that were also personality based. And I thought it was very telling that, you know, Sanders gets a whole slate of policy-related questions so does O'Malley, and Hillary comes on and asked her, are you a liar?

VAUSE: Yes.

ZILBER: I mean, it's an interesting contrast.

VAUSE: One thing, if you like contrast, what happened at this Democratic town hall and this is sort of been the hallmark, I guess, in the Democratic debates, as well, compared with the Republicans. I timed it out, 96 minutes in there was finally a question on foreign policy and national security. It was a bit of a softball for Clinton. But clearly this plays to her strength. She got very animated. This was her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I flew from Cambodia where I was with the president, to Israel, middle of the night, go see the Israeli cabinet. Work with them on what they would accept as an offer. Go see the Palestinian president, work with him to make sure he'd back it up. Go back to Jerusalem, finalize the deal. Fly to Cairo, meet with President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt. Hammer out the agreement. Announce at -- about an hour before the deadline that we were facing, they got a ceasefire. There was no invasion. That's what you have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That was Hillary Clinton talking about negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza. You know, and she obviously sees this as one of her strengths. She pulls this way all the time. But if it's not a big deal for voters in Iowa, if it barely came up, how is it going to help her a week from now?

BELLANTONI: I actually think this is both a primary election argument and a general election argument. You know, she is playing again the long game. She needs to portray Senator Sanders as somebody who is only focused on domestic issues. He's the one who's going to raise your taxes and, you know, say that he's going to do all these socialist things, but I'm one that's going to go negotiate the peace treaty for you.

But it's also a way to position against all of the Republican field. Not one of them has the same type of experience that she does, which you can argue one way or another if that's valuable to voters. But for her, she's trying to say I'm the one that's been there. And so she's telegraphing that message everywhere.

[01:10:10] VAUSE: And Maclen, just finally, you know, this seems to be very 2008, what she tried to do against Obama. Didn't work then. Is it going to work now? ZILBER: You know, I'm concerned for her because Iowa, even in record

turnout '08, had turnout of about 10 percent. I mean, not many people caucus and the people who do are very partisan, very progressive. And I'm not sure that they're necessarily going to buy the "I'm going to be your tough hawk on foreign policy" argument. I'm not sure how much appeals to the people who are going to show up on a snowy night in January.

VAUSE: Very quickly --

BELLANTONI: They are saying it's going to be a nice weather.

(LAUGHTER)

BELLANTONI: It might make all the difference in the world.

VAUSE: We got about 30 seconds left here. We haven't talked about Governor O'Malley. He took his jacket off, he walked around, he talked about --

ZILBER: Was Martin O'Malley there?

VAUSE: Apparently he was.

BELLANTONI: He has done no damage to himself throughout this whole campaign. He hasn't attacked which allows him to be run for -- you know, to be a cabinet secretary.

VAUSE: Right.

BELLANTONI: To try to get a good speaking position.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: He's campaign for a cabinet position.

ZILBER: Yes. Or maybe VP --

BELLANTONI: I mean, it's not going to be the vice president.

ZILBER: He's not going to be VP. OK. Good to know. Thank you for coming in. Appreciate it.

ZILBER: Thanks so much.

VAUSE: OK. All three Democratic candidates went hard after the Republicans tonight, especially the frontrunner, Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton called his comments on Muslims shameful, offensive and dangerous. But Trump's focus for the past two weeks has been his nearest rival, Ted Cruz. And the senator from Texas is hitting back.

Dana Bash has the latest now from the Republican campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First-time politician Donald Trump is starting to find a comfort zone being a candidate. Going to an Iowa church on Sunday.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We talked about humility at church today. I don't know if that was aimed at me. Perhaps.

BASH: Even ashooing the Trump Tower, staying at a Holiday Inn in Iowa.

TRUMP: I thought it was terrific. It was clean. It was nice. And the bed was good.

BASH: And the man who made his mark railing against the establishment is now making nice.

TRUMP: The establishment actually is against me. But really coming online because they see me as opposed to Cruz, who is a nasty guy, who can't get along with anybody.

BASH: Listen to Trump here as he talks with Wolf Blitzer today about his biggest competition, now, Ted Cruz.

TRUMP: You have to make deals. You have to get along. That's the purpose of what our founders created. And Ted cannot get along with anybody.

BASH: Not so say Trump isn't also still stoking controversy with comments other candidates wouldn't dare say. Like this over the weekend --

TRUMP: I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters. OK. It's like incredible.

BASH: As for Cruz, he's using humor to expose Trump's weak spot. Like when the billionaire stumbled quoting scripture, "Two Corinthians."

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are standing on the promises of Second Chronicles 7:14. If my people --

(LAUGHTER)

CRUZ: Well, you know, two Corinthians walk into a bar. Yes. Ricardo Montalban, genuine Corinthian leather.

BASH: And Cruz is picking up endorsements he hopes will propel him to victory in Iowa. Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck and former Texas governor, Rick Perry.

RICK PERRY, FORMER TEXAS GOVERNOR: Ted is the leader that we need to reignite the promise of America. That's why I'm supporting Ted Cruz.

BASH: Trump helped push Perry to an early exit from the 2016 presidential race. And though Perry was never a big fan of Cruz, his fellow Texan, he despises Trump. So the enemy of Perry's enemy, Ted Cruz, is now his friend. That, as an old high school video of Cruz, talking about his aspirations, caught fire on the Internet, one that speaks for itself. CRUZ: That's like sweat on my butt? No, no. What you want me to do?

What I want to do in life? Well, my aspiration is to take over the world. World domination. You know, rule everything. Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff.

BASH (on camera): The Cruz campaign is laughing that off, saying he even had a sense of humor as a teenager.

People who may not be laughing at the end of this week are executives at FOX News, hosting the final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses. Donald Trump told CNN he might not show up because one of the moderators is Megyn Kelly, who he famously tussled with in the first Republican debate. He said he doesn't like her and she probably doesn't like him, and whether he goes will depend on how he's treated. But he wouldn't say exactly what that means.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A short break here on NEWSROOM L.A. When we come back, Syrian military troops claim a major victory, taking control of a strategic town.

Also three dangerous fugitives still on the run after breaking out of a California jail. The very latest on the manhunt, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:18:45] VAUSE: Welcome back. Syrian government forces are now in control of a key town in the south, after weeks of intense fighting. Syrian military troops seized the rebel stronghold in Daraa Province from Islamist fighters. That's according to Syrian opposition activists and Syria's state-run news agency.

This would be a significant win for the government because the town is at a crossroads that links Daraa to the capital Damascus. And its seizure cuts off rebel links between east and west Daraa.

A manhunt for three escaped prison inmates here in California heading to its fifth day. Authorities are asking the public for any information as they investigate how the men broke out of the Orange County Jail.

CNN's Sara Sidner has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sheriff's deputies here in Orange County say that the men were all together in a specific area, in a pod. And that they all had a very detailed plan that they executed to get out of this jail. Now if you take a look behind you'll see the barbed fire up there, about four storey, that was the last place where they escaped from. And here's how they did it.

The sheriff's department has been tweeting out photos of how the men were able to leave this jail unnoticed. They were able to cut through a half-inch steel grate first, then pushed themselves through a plumbing tunnel. And then somehow make it up to the roof where there's an unsecured area. And they used their bed sheets, according to investigators, braided them together and used those to rappel down four stories.

[01:20:06] The reason why investigators are so concerned and want the public's help in catching these three men is partly because they believed they're going to become desperate and because of the charges that are being held against them.

Let me give you a list of what those are. We've got Hossein Nayeri, he is one of four men accused of kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner. He's a co-defendant -- he and a co-defendant are accused of kidnapping the owner and his girlfriend. Then burning him with a blowtorch and severing his genitals and pouring bleach on them before dumping them in the desert. And Nayeri has a prior conviction, a conviction of murder.

Then there's Jonathan Tieu. He's charged with murder and attempted murder in a gang-related attack. Investigators say they believed he is involved in a Vietnamese gang. And so is Bac Duong, who is charged with attempted murder. Their charges are very serious. And sheriff's deputies are worried that they will become violent if someone tries to approach them or turn them in.

So they said look, please contact us even if it's anonymously. These are dangerous men. The investigation into how exactly this happened, did they have any help inside the jail or outside the jail? That is still ongoing. But the first priority here is to try to catch these men and bring them back to jail.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Orange County.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: CNN's law enforcement contributor and former special agent with the FBI, Steve Morris, with me to talk about this manhunt.

OK, so normally when someone escapes from a prison, they set up this perimeter. That's the first step. But how useful is that going to be? Because, you know, we all know the movie, you know, and Tommy Lee Jones in the "Fugitive," you know, a fugitive is on the loose at four miles an hour, that's means a radius of 60 miles an hour here before the authorities even knew.

STEVE MORRIS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Looks real good in a movie, huh?

VAUSE: It does. Yes.

MORRIS: Yes.

VAUSE: So how does it play out in real life?

MORRIS: In real life, these guys had to have help to begin with to get out of the place. And that -- they're not just going to plan this thing and get into the parking lot and say, we made it.

VAUSE: Where do we go now?

MORRIS: What do we do now?

VAUSE: Yes.

MORRIS: Yes. The same people who helped them up to that point are going to help them later. And so they had probably somebody waiting. You know, prisons don't just have cameras looking in, they have cameras looking out. So they -- I would guess that they didn't get anything productive from that or they would have already had a lead.

VAUSE: OK. So we make the assumptions now these guys got out, they have some kind of vehicle that takes them to wherever they want. Are they likely to be sticking together?

MORRIS: I don't think so. I mean, you're going to have people disagree on that. That's what you do in the squad room. But these guys weren't long-time prisoners together. They were in the same pod. But this is a jail not a prison. So they've been there just months, not years. They haven't created the bond. And my guess is, they probably went three different ways.

VAUSE: OK. So the longer this goes on, how does that change the equation in terms of how they will eventually be caught? Because chances are they will be eventually caught.

MORRIS: OK. I'm pretty sure they will be caught. Listen, after 24 hours, everything changes. They're out of the area. They could be anywhere at 24 hours. And frankly, all of these guys could have been across the border into Mexico within just a few hours. So what you're doing is you're looking for family members, friends, anybody who's visited them in the past few months. You are going to talk to them. And you are going to explain to them, all the neat, little things about harboring a fugitive.

VAUSE: OK. But we have this guy who was part of a Vietnamese gang.

MORRIS: Right.

VAUSE: Another guy who is from Iran.

MORRIS: Right.

VAUSE: The third guy, I'm not entirely sure what his background is.

MORRIS: He's also Vietnamese --

VAUSE: Vietnamese gang as well. OK. So the two guys in the Vietnamese gang, do they go back to their old life? MORRIS: You know, I don't know why it is but when you find people in

organized crime or gangs, even when they escape, they tend to come back to the roost. I don't -- it's not smart. It's not wise. But that's just where they feel comfortable. And I see them coming back a lot. So if you ask me, are they going to come back? Yes, they may go out of town for a while, but they'll be back.

VAUSE: OK. You said they'd be playing this for a couple of months. We saw a similar situation with the prison break from New York state last year. These guys again, they had tools. They cut through steel, rebar. They caused a lot noise. Someone had to cover up for them.

MORRIS: Right.

VAUSE: They had inside help? Someone inside the jail?

MORRIS: Somebody is going to have to get it to them. And it's really hard for a visitor to get Tungsten carbide drills and --

VAUSE: Which what they would had to have used?

MORRIS: Yes. Yes. This isn't -- this isn't wrought iron they cut through. So somebody would have had to have done it. And I believe it would have been somebody in the prison.

VAUSE: OK. Steve, thanks for coming in. Clearly this will go on for some time. But eventually they always get caught.

MORRIS: Oh, yes.

VAUSE: OK. Thank you.

And we have this just in, Malaysian investigators have confirmed the large piece of debris found in southern Thailand on Friday does not belong to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. They say the part numbers do not match those of a Boeing 777.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, Danish lawmakers are set to take action to discourage migrants from coming to their country. More on Europe's crisis just ahead.

[01:25:03] Also as Australia commemorates the day British settlers arrived on land 228 years ago, one speech has reignited their controversial debate about the country's racism against its indigenous population.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Malaysian investigators say a large piece of debris found in Southern Thailand on Friday does not belong to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. They say the part numbers do not match those of a Boeing 777. Syrian military troops have planted their flag in a key town they

recaptured from Islamist rebels after weeks of heavy clashes. The town is in a largely controlled rebel area of the Daraa Province, south of the capital Damascus. And its recapture may help Syrian troops backed by Russian air power to push deeper into the province.

California authorities are asking the public to help them find three inmates who broke out of a jail on Friday. The escapees are considered extremely dangerous. One of them is a convicted murderer. There's a $50,000 reward for any information leading to their capture.

And the Democratic candidates for the U.S. presidency met up at a CNN town hall. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley appeared on stage separately to answer questions from the audience. It took place in the state of Iowa where the first voting of the 2016 race begins in six days.

[01:30:00] VAUSE: While European leaders struggle to agree on a unified approach to the migrant crisis, Danish lawmakers are set to take action. They are about to vote on a measure to make Denmark unappealing to referees.

Arwa Damon reports, for some, the measures are raising haunting reminders of Nazi Germany.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a volunteer-run center for refugees. And those teaching the arrivals are appalled by the legislation coined the Jewelry Bill.

This 72-year-old woman is from Germany. She grew up in the ruins of World War II, but has called Denmark home for decades.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was shocked when I heard about this idea of confiscating jewelry from refugees. Since I'm German, I was immediately thinking about our own history.

DAMON: The bill has been through several incarnations. Now, it excludes items of sentimental value. But anything worth more than $1,500, cash or valuables, can be confiscated from asylum-seekers.

The larger aim of the bill is clear, to deter asylum-seekers from coming here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope this will start a chain reaction through Europe where other European countries see there is need to tighten the rules of immigration to keep the culture.

DAMON: He and the supporters of the bill believe that Denmark's way of life is under threat from migrants and referees from nonwestern societies.

That said, there are plenty of people here who cannot believe that a Danish government would debate this type of legislation, which humanitarian and aid groups argue will exacerbate the situation. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are attempts to find a common European

solution to this. Every country is now trying to fence themselves in, trying to scare refugees and asylum-seekers away. This is not going to work in the long run because we have a lot of people in need of international protection. And they are being pushed from one country to the other.

DAMON: Hardest for the refugees to bear is a new provision that will delay family reunification, extending the wait from one year, to three, before an individual can apply.

At one of the camps, Amani shows us pictures of her 9-year-old daughter, still in Syria. Thoughts that she might not see her daughter until she's a teenager, or not even at all, are just too much.

"Sometimes I say to my friends, I'm scared that if I die here, my daughter won't know where her mother is buried," she tells us. "I'm scared that one day I will look online and see a picture of my daughter because something happened to her."

Those who wanted to keep the refugees out, may have just succeeded. Amani has no intention of trying to stay here.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Copenhagen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Across Australia, millions are celebrating Australia Day, the day the first fleet arrived from Britain more than 200 years ago. For many, this is about recognizing the Australian dream, a country settled by convicts. But hard work is rewarded. A fair go is considered part of the national DNA. But for indigenous Australians, who were there for 60,000 years before the British arrive, it's called Invasion Day or Survival Day.

And in the past, the voices of protests have rarely been heard.

Only this year, Australians are perhaps thinking about more of aboriginal Australia because of a powerful speech delivered by journalist, Stan Grant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN GRANT, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR, SKY NEWS, AUSTRALIA: In 1963, when I was born, I was counted among the flora and fauna, not the citizens of this country. You will hear things say you've done well. Yes, I have. And I'm proud of it. Why have I done well? I've done well because of who has come before me. My father, who last the tips of three fingers working in saw mills to put food on our table because he was denied an education. My grandfather who fought wars for this country when he was not a citizen, and came back to a segregated land where he couldn't celebrate with his mates in the pub because he was black. My great grandfather who was jailed for speaking his language to his son, my father. Jailed for it. My grandfather, on my mother's side, who married a white woman who reached out to Australia, lived on the fringes of town until the police came, put a gun to his head, bulldozed his tin humpy and ran over the graves of the three children he buried there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Stan Grant, international editor for Sky News Australia, joins us from Sydney.

Stan, you're an old colleague. It's grate to see you. A powerful moving speech. It was all off the cuff, you had to prepared remarks. Did you think it would spark this kind of reaction?

[01:35:08] GRANT: Not at all. In fact, John, I delivered the speech as part of a debate. The debate asked is racism destroying the Australian dream. The debate was held last year. It was replayed a month or so later. But my particular speech, my opening remarks were pulled out of the debate and posted online on the eve of Australia day. I think it was a combination of the message of the speech and the timing of it, on the eve of Australia day, when people start to ask questions about our identity, as a nation, who we are, our great achievements and the grievance that lies at the heart of settlement here. All those things came together on social media. It started to take off. And I've been astounded at the reaction, frankly.

VAUSE: I want to play another part of the speech. Many people will find it quite surprising. I certainly did, what you say here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: The Australian dream, we sing of it and we recite it in verse. Australians all let us rejoice when we're young and free. My people die young in this country. We die 10 years younger than average Australians. And we are far from free. We are fewer than 3 percent of the Australian population. And yet, we are 25 percent, a quarter of those Australians, locked up in our prisons. And if you are a juvenile, it is worse. It is 50 percent. And an indigenous child is more likely to be locked up than in high school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Many people would be surprised at the disproportionate rate of incarceration in Australia. That was truly surprising.

GRANT: I think people are surprised overall, John. When you look at statistics, most surveys reveal that most Australians, six out of 10 Australians, have never met an indigenous person. We're almost invisible in this country in so many ways. And I think that the legacy of that history, the hangover, the 200 years of disposition, injustice, and suffering, still being felt by indigenous people today. If we look at the imprisonment rates, fewer than 3 percent of the population and a quarter of the prisons. More than 50 percent of juvenile detention, children dying 10 years younger, health, housing, education, employment, and so on. We're at the bottom of the ladder. And the point of my speech is that we don't have to live with this. We are a better nation. Australia in so many ways is the envy of the world, prosperous, free, Democratic, safe. And yet, the original inhabitants are often living in abject misery. And we, as a nation, are better than that.

VAUSE: That's what I was going to get to. This is not a speech that had a laundry list about it. You made the point. This is a successful country. This is a country full of people wanting to do the right things. But yet, when you look at the numbers and the treatment of indigenous people in Australia, and you look at compare it to other liberal democracies in the Western world that have indigenous populations as well, Australia is miles behind. Why is that?

GRANT: Just take the example of a treaty or recognition of sovereignty. Now, with the United States, there's a range of treaties and acknowledgment of sovereignty of indigenous peoples. Australia is the only country that has not made a treaty with indigenous people. We're not even having a discussion around those issues for too long. Money has been spent on indigenous welfare but little officially reaches the people directly in need. It's caught up in bureaucratic red tape. Often we don't have input into the types of programs, the outcomes, that indigenous people themselves need. So, there needs to be a political reckoning with this, greater political representation, involvement in the political process, involvement in the decision- making process, involvement in where the money is spent. We're lagging so far behind. We have a lot of ground to make up in a country that is one of the richest in the world.

VAUSE: I want to talk more about your speech. It was powerful and moving. This clip, you talk about the Australian dream and what it means for indigenous Australians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: The Australian dream is rooted in racism. It is the very foundation of the dream. It is there at the birth of the nation. It is there. An empty land, a land for the taking. 60,000 years of occupation. A people who made the first seafaring journey in the history of mankind. A people of lore, music, dance, politics. None of it mattered. We were not here according to British law. And when British people looked at us, they saw something subhuman. If we were human at all, we occupied the lowest rung on civilization's ladder. We were fly blown Stone Age savages, and that was the language that was used.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:40:28] VAUSE: The faces were stunned in the crowd. I want to give you the contrary argument here. People will say in response to what you said, there has been the high court decision back in 1992, recognized native title. The first thing Kevin Rudd does in 2007, he apologized for stolen aboriginal children. This is the country, the Australians are trying to make progress here.

GRANT: There's a couple of things, John. And I acknowledge what you're saying there. That was my point. We are a better nation than this. The apology to the stolen generations, the kids that were removed from their families, shows we are better than that. The Marlborough decision that took almost 200 years to come to, the Marlborough decision that said this was an empty land and that we had no rights here. The high court struck that down. As we say, there is a great, great groundswell of goodwill towards indigenous people. And this is part of the growth and the maturity of the country.

But indigenous people still suffer the hangover from the seeds that were sewn 200 years ago, the disposition of land, the stealing of our inheritance, the fact that indigenous people were impoverished and ushered on to the margins of society, where so many of us live today.

I'm an example of the hard work of my parents and grandparents, who struggled to get a foothold in a country that wouldn't recognize them as citizens until the mid 1960s. I'm here because of their great efforts. I'm here because this is a great country. I'm asking that all of us reach out and lift up our brothers and sisters to make sure all indigenous people have a chance at the opportunities I have and the opportunities that other Australians have today in this country.

VAUSE: Well said.

Stan, it is always a pleasure. Great to see you. Thank you.

GRANT: Always a pleasure, my friend. Good to see you again.

VAUSE: Cheers.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, frigid conditions are freezing travel plans for thousands of people across South Korea. We'll have the latest on the record low temperatures across Asia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:45:49] VAUSE: It's been a rough ride for stocks in the Asia- Pacific region. Trading has wrapped up for the day in Tokyo so let's look at the numbers of the Nikkei down by 2.3 percent and the Shanghai Composite down by almost 5 percent. Hong Kong Heng Seng down by almost 2.5 percent. The Sydney exchange was closed for the Australia Day holiday.

The cold snap in Asia has led to travel delays. Thousands had flights delayed in South Korea. Thousand more faced delays in China. Deaths reported in China, Taiwan and Japan, all of which are seeing historically low temperatures.

Let's go to our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for the latest on the frigid weather.

It's cold out there, man.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's so cold. And it's disheartening to look at what occurred. When you see folks in Taiwan and Taipei, with the large-scale fatalities. And the human body does a fantastic job at acclimating to warm temperatures. But it takes a long time to acclimate to cold temperatures. If you live in a seasonal climate, every autumn, your body gets the initial shock when it drops. You look at across portions of Beijing. Around minus ten this time of year. On Saturday, bottomed out to minus 17. And coldest in six decades in spots. Warmed up a little. Dramatic warming trend. And we think temperatures will get above coverage over the next coming days. Minus 18. Down to minus 14. A warming trend, and the minus 6 this time of year. And Hong Kong, temperatures getting closer to average temps. The cold air where it belongs in three to four days. The cold air in Taipei, that didn't exist a couple of days ago. The overnight temperature, down to 16 after a 4 a few days ago. The rain showers come back. The temps mad rate back out. And in Seoul, we drop to around minus 18 degrees. And the trend takes you up to around 6. Just like that, things look to be changing for the better in the forecast, over this region of Asia and the warming trend continues for this region. A little cooler towards the latter portion of the week for Beijing. But nowhere near 18 below. I looked into the wind chills here with our weather producer. And the temperatures at their peak, they're dropping to around 17 below, the wind chills were minus 31 degrees in Beijing. That's enough to cause frostbite. That's a dangerous story in Asia in the last couple days.

VAUSE: I remember those days. Maybe not minus 30. But close to it. And it is bitter.

Pedram, thank you.

JAVAHERI: It's brutal. Yeah.

VAUSE: We'd like to show you what's happening right now in the Pacific near northern California. Storms triggered by El Nino, have been tearing away cliffs. Residents at an apartment complex are under mandatory evacuation for their own safety. They can only return to their homes briefly to get the personal belongings.

A short break. When we come back, Democratic candidates for president made their pitch to voters with less than one week until the Iowa caucuses. We'll have the highlights and maybe the low lights, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:53:15] A few hours ago, Democratic candidates made pitches to voters in Iowa and voters nationwide, in a town hall setting hosted by CNN. If you missed it or can't get enough, here's some of the more memorable moments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, DEBATE MODERATOR & CNN ANCHOR: How are you feeling a week out?

MARTIN O'MALLEY, (D), MARYLAND GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm excited.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My wife told me to button my coat. But I think I'm too fat. HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF

STATE: We are all, on the Democratic side, having a spirited debate about the issues we care about.

SANDERS: The most significant vote and issue regarding foreign policy that we have seen in this country in modern history, was the vote on the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq.

CLINTON: First of all, I have a much longer history than one vote, which I said was a mistake.

SANDERS: Experience is important. But judgment is also important.

CLINTON: But I think the American public has seen me exercising judgment in a lot of other ways.

O'MALLEY: I'm the only one of the three of us who has a track record not of being a divider, but of bringing people together to get meaningful things done.

CLINTON: So I have a really long history of taking on all kinds of inequality. When I went to Beijing in 1995 and said human rights were women's rights, and women's rights were human rights, that was a statement about inequality.

(APPLAUSE)

CUOMO: Just to be clear, you are going to raise taxes to do this?

SANDERS: Yes. We will -- we will raise taxes, yes, we will.

CLINTON: You have to have somebody who is a proven, proven fighter.

SANDERS: I think, if you look at my record, in terms of fighting for women's rights, I think there are few members of Congress who have a stronger record. It's 100 percent lifetime.

O'MALLEY: You know what I believe is the biggest issue I think you should be concerned about as a young person who has more time on this planet than I do, that is climate change.

[01:55:17] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which of our previous presidents has inspired you most and why?

CLINTON: Sorry, President Obama. Sorry, Bill. Abraham Lincoln.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: There you have it.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

Stay with us, the news continues, with Errol Barnett, right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:59:39] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Bernie Sanders says he will raise taxes. And Hillary Clinton defends her use of a private e-mail server. Hear what else happened at CNN's Democratic town hall.

Plus, a new report says there's a terrorist group that may be more dangerous to the United States than ISIS. We'll explain.

And later this hour, Danish lawmakers are set to vote on a controversial new law that which allow them to seize assets like jewelry from refugees.

Welcome our viewers from watching all around the world. Thanks for being with me. I'm Errol Barnett, with you for the next two hours. This is CNN NEWSROOM.