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Clinton Wins Iowa by Thin Margin; Cruz Enters New Hampshire with Momentum; Somali Airliner Explosion Investigation; U.S. Zika Virus Case Transmitted Sexually; Lunar New Year Approaching; Australian Court Allows Offshore Detention; Bill Cosby Back in Court. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired February 03, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is "CNN Newsroom," live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour:

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: The race for the White House sprints to New Hampshire, and Donald Trump wasting no time to rail on Ted Cruz, the guy who beat him in Iowa.

VAUSE: The Zika virus is now officially a global health emergency. Scientists say it can be transmitted sexually, as well as by mosquitos.

SESAY: And, Kim Jong Un getting ready to send a satellite into orbit, if North Korea can pull it off. Growing alarm that it could soon be able to launch a new clear missile.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody; great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: Hello, everyone; I'm Isha Sesay. "Newsroom" L.A. starts, right now.

New Hampshire is the next battleground in the race for the U.S. presidency and, whether they finish first by a fraction or a respectable third, each candidate is trying to put a positive spin on the results of Monday's Iowa caucuses.

VAUSE: Democrat Hillary Clinton was the official winner in Iowa, by a razor thin margin over Bernie Sanders, but New Hampshire is Sanders' backyard and the polls show the Vermont senator with a huge lead ahead of next week's primary. And, with a win in Iowa, Republican Ted Cruz heads into the New Hampshire primary with momentum, but the latest polls still has Donald Trump way ahead of the rest of the field. He says skipping the last Republican debate may have cost him votes in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R-NY) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I had to do it again I would have done the exact same thing, and the reason is - do you know why? Because I raised $6 million for the vets in one hour. So if I took a second place instead of a first place and could give the Vets $6 million, I'll do that all day long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: John Philips is a talk radio host with KABC and political columnist for the "Orange County Register." Donald Trump supporter we should add in to all of that?

JOHN PHILLIPS, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Yes.

VAUSE: Thank you for being with us

SESAY: Yes, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you very having me.

SESAY: Welcome.

VAUSE: Mike Tyson, who is a Donald Trump supporter, he actually said, "Everybody has a plan until you're punched in the mouth." Did Donald

Trump get punched in the mouth last night?

PHILLIPS: Listen, Donald Trump is a rich New Yorker, who likes gold fixtures, surrounds himself with beautiful women and brags about his wealth.

VAUSE: That's not Iowa.

PHILLIPS: He got 24-percent in Iowa. I think that's pretty darn good. if he would have pandered to them do you know how ridiculous -

VAUSE: He pandered pretty big.

PHILLIPS: Oh, please. Come on.

VAUSE: He had the bible, --

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: -- and Two Corinthians, come on.

PHILLIPS: If he would have really pandered to them he would have been handling serpents and talking in tongues.

SESAY: Seriously, where does this leave the narrative? I'm a winner, not so much. Where does it leave that narrative, going forward?

PHILLIPS: There are different expectations for different candidates. Historically the social conservative wins Iowa. What happens in Iowa stays in Iowa too. They -

SESAY: Really?

PHILLIPS: -- typically do poorly in New Hampshire. Look at Mike Huckabee; went on to lose the nomination, won Iowa. Look at Rick Santorum; won Iowa, lost the nomination. In 1988, Bob Dole and Pat Robertson both finished ahead of George H. W. Bush, who went on to win the nomination and the presidency and, when George H.W. Bush lost in 1980 to Ronald Reagan, he won the Iowa caucus. SESAY: This ain't your daddy's election. It's kind of different this time around. So to say the old ways of prevailing will triumph, to say Iowa will have no influence in New Hampshire, can we really say that? It's a completely different kind of race? It's being propelled by a different kinds of dynamics?

PHILLIPS: Well the polls still indicate that Donald Trump has both a double digit lead in New Hampshire and South Carolina and nationally, if you want to look at that. So, I think he's still in the driver's seat here.

VAUSE: They say you pick corn in Iowa, you pick presidents in New Hampshire, but let's talk about Marco Rubio, because he, obviously, you know, if you read all the headlines, he won in Iowa, but there wasn't really the establishment challenge in Iowa that he's going to face in New Hampshire. You've got Bush still there, Christie, Kasich. This is going to be an establishment cage match for Rubio. Is he going to do as well?

PHILLIPS: No doubt. Here's what Marco Rubio needs: he needs the other establishment candidates to get knocked out after New Hampshire. If John Kasich is gone, if Chris Christie is gone, if Jeb Bush is gone, then their supporters coalesce around him and then he thinks he can compete with the big boys and then it becomes a three-man race.

SESAY: But Jeb Bush doesn't have to drop out because he's got the money to keep going.

VAUSE: Not much -

SESAY: Well the Super PAC's still have millions and millions, over 20 million -

VAUSE: Right.

SESAY: So he can still stay in the race past New Hampshire.

PHILLIPS: Right, and Mike Murphy is the guy that's spending the money attacking Marco Rubio in New Hampshire, who is really doing the damage to Rubio, that's benefitted Trump and Cruz and others, it just hasn't benefitted Jeb. He may have to add another exclamation point.

[Laughter]

VAUSE: Hey, look, let's go to Ted Cruz because he had this incredible organization in Iowa. He had 12,000 volunteers on the phone. That's almost [00:05:02] one volunteer for every four or five voters, which is incredible. Does he have anything that comes close to that in New Hampshire?

PHILLIPS: No. No. He's not going to win New Hampshire. I don't think he expects to win New Hampshire. Super Tuesday is really the play for Ted Cruz.

VAUSE: Right. PHILLIPS: That's the SEC primary. There are a lot of southern states that vote. He thinks he has a leg up, including his home state in Texas. I would add that he won in Iowa, but he won dirty. That mailer that he sent out, that essentially threatened people or made people think they'd go to federal prison if they didn't go out and vote for him and then spreading the rumor that Carson was going to drop out -

SESAY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: I mean, that's playing below the --

VAUSE: I think that's more important than the flyer about the voting record, the Carson play, I though, had a bigger impact.

PHILLIPS: Right, and then he apologized after the voting was done. That's very big of him, you know.

SESAY: Very big. I want to ask about organization for your candidate.

PHILLIPS: Right.

SESAY: Obviously he's leading in the polls but some have said Iowa is also a testament to the fact that he had poor organization on the ground in Iowa, that he hasn't surrounded himself with people that have a lot of political experience in doing this kind of thing.

PHILLIPS: Sure.

SESAY: New Hampshire, okay, he's leading in the polls, but beyond New Hampshire, does he have the organization to keep this thing going?

PHILLIPS: Here's what's different: in Iowa you had a caucus which is very different from a primary. In New Hampshire you have a primary, South Carolina is a primary. The next caucus is in the state of Nevada. Most of the state's voting on Super Tuesday are primaries. You don't have to have the Ted Cruz level of organization to win in a primary. What you need is you need excitement and you need people who are motivated to go out and vote for you and Donald Trump has that.

VAUSE: You know, I think Ted Cruz will be better than expected and after all he's from Canada and that's just next door.

PHILLIPS: Right. He thinks he's next in line to be prime minister.

VAUSE: We'll see how it goes.

SESAY: You two.

VAUSE: John, thank you.

SESAY: John Phillips, a pleasure. Please come back and see us.

PHILLIPS: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: Thank you.

VAUSE: It was fun; thank you.

SESAY: Well Trump's second place finish in Iowa was, no doubt, a disappointment for him but you wouldn't know it from his comments Monday night, of from John Phillips.

Even in the past three hours Trump and John Phillips, among many others, have been trying to spin the results for Trump that they were better than expected and, as always, he took a few shots at some of his rivals. Here's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Isha, Donald Trump tonight in New Hampshire continuing to sound a bit more conciliatory, certainly less inflammatory. He is sounding in a word, nice.

TRUMP: We finished second and I want to tell you something, I'm just honored. I'm really honored.

LAH: A very humble sounding Donald Trump.

TRUMP: Iowa, we love you. We thank you. You're special.

LAH: This is the same candidate who just weeks ago said this:

TRUMP: How stupid are the people of Iowa? I don't like being second; second is terrible to me.

LAH: "Second place is nice", tweets today's post-Iowa Donald. After 15 hours of Twitter silence, a kinder, gentler Donald emerged.

CHRISTIAN FERRY, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER, LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think I've stopped being surprised about anything related to Donald Trump this cycle.

LAH: this is not the Donald Trump Christian Ferry knows. Ferry was Lindsey Graham's presidential campaign manager. After Graham insulted the billionaire, Trump read the senator's cell phone number at a rally.

TRUMP: 202 -

LAH: Graham responded with a humorous video. What else could a candidate do in the summer of Trump? Trump railed on everyone from Mexican immigrants -

TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime; they're rapists.

LAH: To Muslims. After the San Bernardino terror attacks --

TRUMP: A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

LAH: Trump criticized women, from Carlie Fiorina and Fox anchor, Megyn Kelly.

TRUMP: You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her, wherever.

LAH: Even former Vietnam War POW John McCain was fair game.

TRUMP: He was a warrior because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.

LAH: The Trump of last night may indicate an evolving candidate.

TRUMP: I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates --

LAH: But that may already be fading a bit. Less than 24 hours he was attacking Ted Cruz, tweeting "anybody who watched all of Ted Cruz's

far too long rambling, overly flamboyant speech last night would say that was his Howard Dean moment."

FERRY: I think Donald Trump is a different candidate today than he was six months ago but I think at the core, he is still Donald Trump. He is still completely unpredictable and we have no idea what might show up tomorrow and maybe that is what his voters are looking for. It seems to be working very well for him.

LAH: Ferry believes that Trump's calm demeanor may indicate a couple of things, that he is maturing as a candidate, but also he may be in it for the long haul. John, Isha?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Our thanks to Kyung Lah there. Well, before voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will take part in a presidential town hall there, live on CNN; that's 12:00 p.m. London. 1:00 [00:10:01] p.m. Central European Time. It is only here on CNN.

VAUSE: Martin O'Malley this time, he suspended his campaign.

SESAY: Yes, he has. Well, authorities are investigating a midflight explosion that blew a hole in a Somali airliner. A source close to the investigation says it appears one person went through that hole and fell to their death.

VAUSE: These images were recorded by passengers moments after the blast ripped open the fuselage of the Daallo airlines flight, happening shortly after takeoff from Mogadishu. Sources told CNN initial tests did show explosive residue.

SESAY: The plane was about halfway to cruising altitude when it depressurized and was forced to make an emergency landing. Somalia's news agency reports two other people were injured.

VAUSE: The United States is looking for ways to intensify its military campaign against ISIS. The Pentagon has already announced that some 50 Special Forces troops are already operating in Syria and recently published satellite images showing an airstrip being extended in Kurdish controlled territory in Northern Syria.

SESAY: The Pentagon says only that U.S. forces in Syria are consistently looking for ways to increase efficiency. Clarissa Ward is the first journalist to visit that airfield amid a deepening relationship between the U.S. and their Kurdish allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Behind that berm of freshly dug earth, a small agricultural airstrip is being turned into something very different, a military airfield just 100 miles from ISIS positions. Satellite photos show the work that has been done here in recent months.

So you can see behind me they're working to extend the runway so that larger planes could land here. The advantage of this site is that it's well secured inside Kurdish territory, so it could be used to supply U.S. Special Forces deployed here in Syria.

He's coming now.

We were escorted away from the airfield as soon as we were spotted, told it was a military zone. It's another example of the U.S.'s growing military footprint in this remote corner of northern Syria, and its deepening

relationship with Kurdish fighters known as the YPG. In an abandoned apartment building closer to the front line we were given access to the YPG'S joint operations room. It is a modest setup. 21-year-old Dahm Haseki and his colleagues talk to their men on the battlefield using newly provided tablets, they pass on enemy locations to a coalition command center from where air strikes can be launched.

Right now this is the frontline of Hasakah he says. Our comrades have seen the movements of two enemy fighters so we sent this message, along with their coordinates, along to the general command room.

When there are heavy clashes the operations room moves to the front lines. immediately after the strikes, Haseki and his men rush in to make sure that the right targets have been hit.

WARD: Who taught you how to do this? He tells us a group of foreigners and Americans trained his commanders who, in turn, trained him and his comrades.

In the skies and on the ground in Syria, the U.S. is deepening its commitment to the battle against ISIS.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Northern Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The U.S., South Korea and Japan are condemning North Korea's plan to launch what it calls an "Earth Observation Satellite". This could happen as soon as next Monday. SESAY: They say it's a front for a long-range missile test. This comes about a month after Pyongyang boasted about what it called a successful test of its first hydrogen bomb.

VAUSE: These are recent satellite photos, apparently showing the launch site. South Korea warned Pyongyang it would pay a grave price if it went ahead.

Let's go to Paula Hancocks now, live this hour in Seoul, and Paula, the North Korean's say it's a satellite launch. The South Koreans and the U.S., they all say this is a test of a possible long range missile. What's the difference and how do they know?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Well, basically the technology used could be the same for both. If it's a certain type of long range rocket, and of course if you put a satellite on top, then it is used for peaceful purposes as Pyongyang says, and it is used to launch a satellite into space but if you put a warhead on the top of it then it's a long range missile. It can be a test for an intercontinental ballistic missile, which means that North Korea, if it tests this capability, will learn more about how it can get that kind of capability, which obviously Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and many other countries in the world do not want it to have. So it really depends on what is on top of this rocket.

Now Pyongyang says it is peaceful but most countries do not agree. We just [00:15:00] heard from Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and he said, "North Korea's rocket launch actually means a launch of a ballistic missile. Forcing the launch is a clear violation against the UN Security Council resolution and a serious provocation against the security to our country."

Now we heard something very similar from South Korea's Blue House, the presidential office, saying it affected the international community, the U.S., the State Department is calling on further sanctions following that -- that nuclear test on January 6th, saying this just proves they are necessary. John?

VAUSE: Paula, very quickly, one of the reasons why we know this is going ahead is because the North Koreans have informed the International Maritime Organization that the window for this launch is February 8-25. For a country which often defies international rules, they've been very diligent, now and in the past, of informing the U.N. about these rocket launches. Why is that?

HANCOCKS: That's right, they always do. They always do give indications of this. The reason, you would assume, is because they have to give a no navigation zone, a no fly zone. They have to worn the international community of exactly where this rocket is going to go because, presumably, it would have to mean that some commercial airlines, some ships, may have to divert their chosen path. So it's a safety concern.

You would assume that is the reason for North Korea doing this. They have always done it in the past, but of course this year they actually carried out a nuclear test without warning anybody and that's something they haven't done in the past.

VAUSE: Okay; Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks, live this hour. 2:16 on a Wednesday afternoon in Seoul. Thanks, Paula.

A short break here. When we come back, a new warning in the Zika virus outbreak. Scientists now believe the virus can now be transmitted through sex as well.

SESAY: Plus, how the travel rush for the Lunar New Year came to a standstill, affecting tens of thousands of people in China. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ("WORLD SPORTS" HEADLINES)

[00:20:57] SESAY: Hello, everyone. A new development is raising the level of alarm on the Zika outbreak even higher. Health officials in the U.S. say a case of the virus in Texas was sexually transmitted. This is the third known case of Zika linked to sex, but the first in this outbreak.

VAUSE: Already the mosquito born virus has health officials warning not to travel to a number of countries. They fear the disease could cause a deadly brain defect in newborns. Brazil is reporting 404 cases of macrocephaly from November through January 30th and says 17 confirmed to be linked to Zika. The World Health Organization estimates 3 to 4 million people across the Americas will be infected with Zika in the next year.

SESAY: Dr. Vicki Cramer joins me now from Sacramento. She's Chief of the Vector Borne Disease Section at the California Department of Public Health. Dr. Cramer, good to have you with us. Now, the Zika virus is not new, yet suddenly we're witnessing an explosive outbreak; why?

DR. VICKI CRAMER, CHIEF of VECTOR BORNE DISEASE SECTION, CALIFORNIA DEPT. of PUBLIC HEALTH, via satellite: Well, that's correct. Zika virus is not new. In fact, it was first discovered in the late 1940s in Africa and was associated with human illness in the 1950s, but it hasn't been until recently that we've seen an explosion in human cases in Latin America.

SESAY: As we talk about the transmission chain, Dr. Cramer, we're also hearing that there's been a sexually transmitted case of Zika virus here in the United States, in Texas. How common is such transmission?

CRAMER: That's correct. Today it was reported that Zika virus had been sexually transmitted, and this is not the first time this has been reported, but was previously reported in a Colorado resident in a journal article in 2011. So we had some inkling that this indeed might by the situation with Zika virus, but this report certainly, today, raises the level of concern regarding sexual transmission of Zika virus, but we don't know how common this is. We don't know how long an individual will remain infectious and can transmit the virus to his or her sexual partner. So there's a lot of unanswered questions about how often and how easily sexual transmission of Zika virus can occur.

SESAY: But Dr. Cramer, if indeed it can be transmitted through sex, it surely changes the calculus of risk to individual countries.

CRAMER: Yes, indeed. It does raise the level of concern and certainly it would be indicated that if somebody has symptoms of Zika virus, that they should use the appropriate protection with their sexual partners.

SESAY: Brazil is due to host the Olympics in August. Many are asking whether it will be possible to eliminate this outbreak before then; is it possible?

CRAMER: Well, I don't think it's possible to eliminate this outbreak, but I think that with extensive mosquito control, that the risk can certainly be reduced. I know Brazil is actively working to reduce mosquito populations, educating the public to dump and drain water, to minimize their contact with mosquitos, use repellant, wear protective clothing; but this mosquito is here to stay. It's not a mosquito that we can eradicate and most likely the virus will continue to circulate at low levels.

But over time as the population builds up some immunity to the virus - because once you're infected you are going to be immune for the rest of your life, that could help put a damper on the rapid spread of this virus. Right now the entire population is naive, or susceptible, to infection and this is contributing also to the rapid spread.

[00:25:04] SESAY: Will there be a vaccine for Zika virus any time soon?

CRAMER: Well, work is already underway on a vaccine in government and private industry partnerships, and it's on the fast track. It will certainly be months or possibly even years, though, before a vaccine is available. So right now our best weapon is extensive mosquito control as well as individuals taking measures to reduce the risk of getting bitten by mosquitos.

SESAY: All right, Dr. Vicki Cramer, it's great to get your insight and perspective this evening. Appreciate it so much. Thank you.

CRAMER: Your welcome.

VAUSE: Take a short break here. When we come back, the biggest annual human migration on the planet, but the annual rush to get home for the Lunar New Year is a little harder this year. Tens of thousands of travelers are going nowhere in China.

SESAY: And Australia's high court ruled on a controversial offshore detention policy. That decision is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching "CNN Newsroom," live from Los Angeles; I'm John Vause SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour:

[00:30:00] (HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Hundreds of millions of people are on the move in China trying to get home for the Lunar New Year holiday. The festivities to usher in the Year of the Monkey, I'm a monkey, begins on Sunday.

SESAY: That was just a gift.

VAUSE: Gave it to you.

SESAY: Yes, thanks. Yes, indeed; and the trip did not get off to a good start for tens of thousands of people in southern China. They were stranded on Tuesday at the Guangzhou Railway Station. Look at those pictures!

VAUSE: That is a miserable sight!

SESAY: That is a miserable sight. Those people were delayed for many, many hours. At least 22 trains running off schedule.

VAUSE: And, of course, the chaos. Let's find out exactly what's happening right now. Ivan Watson is live in Hong Kong. So I guess, Ivan, how many people remain stranded at this train station? How long before they clear that backlog?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Well they're trying to rush more trains to make up for the fact that you had dozens of trains delayed by this unusually cold weather that's hitting this part of Asia right Now; but at the end of the day what you had at that train station was

a structure that's built for about 40, 45,000 people that had according to the railway company's estimates, around 50,000 people stranded there. According to one Chinese newspaper up to 100,000 people stuck there. So the railway corporation in more than 1,000 additional police officers, making decisions like deciding to service the trains on the platform rather than taking them to the depot to do that kind of work. And again, the pressure here that Chinese are under, this is the biggest holiday of the year for them. For many of these people it's the one time of year that they'll get to go back to their homes to see loved ones and they absolutely have to get home by New Year's Eve, that's Sunday night. So any kind of delay like this is -- is very, very difficult and what we've seen is the Chinese government really putting a lot of emphasis, a lot of effort in trying to help enable

everybody to get home during this crush period of transit, by some estimates one of the biggest mass migrations the world sees on an annual level. John and Isha?

VAUSE: Ivan, at one point saying 100,000 people were stuck in that train station; obviously that number is coming down now. Authorities have been taking emergency measures there, at Guangzhou, to try and deal with it. Exactly what do they mean by that? What have they been doing? WATSON: Well they're bringing in more trains to try to help move people out, and as I mentioned, they're servicing some of the trains at the platform rather than taking them to the depot when they come in, just to kind of speed things up and bringing in some 1,300 police officers as well.

The remarkable thing, perhaps, is how much China has improved at this period of movement. You've seen it with your own eyes, John, the enormous construction boom that China embarked on over the last decade, building airports, building high-speed trains, building thousands of kilometers of highways, which help move these people; but at the end of the day you're still talking about this period of several weeks for the Lunar New Year, for the Spring Festival you're still talking about an estimated 3 billion journeys, more than 330 million train journeys taking place. So this is just [00:35:01] an enormous crush of people moving. There is high pressure on people.

It's hard to buy tickets on trains; they're bought online in a matter of minutes, in some cases. The pressure is so intense that some people actually even pay for men or women to pose as boyfriends or girlfriends, as fiances, to bring home to your families. That's just a sense of what a big deal it is for people to get home at this time of year in China. John?

VAUSE: Yes, if anybody out there watching, if they think their holiday commute is pretty awful, take a good look at what's happening to Guangzhou. Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson live for us in Hong Kong.

Let's go to our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri. He has the latest on the forecast in the region. You know, Pedram, the funny thing about this is it wasn't a lot of snow, but it was enough to cause us some pretty big problems.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Correct; and I think John it really just comes down to that sheer volume that you saw Ivan talking about, just the number of people in a very limited area of land mass.

Of course, you talk about China in particular, you take a look at the weather pattern, what we call in the weather world, a case of "severe clear". Not much going on in the way of weather pattern, at least in the immediate future over this region, but China, in particular, 20,000 kilometers of high-speed rail network. That's easily the largest in the world, when it comes to high-speed rail networks.

And, of course, the volume of people we talked about, three billion passenger trains - passenger trips taking place inside the next 40 days. You take a look at the numbers, you dissect the numbers and look at the train, typically about 80 seats for each train car. We've seen stories in years past, January 2008, we had a snowstorm come in, in cases when you have passengers in the order of six of them, literally, put in a place that's about a square meter across and you have luggage also stacked on top of it. You have, of course, presents these folks are traveling in a very, very narrow area that they're packed in place. So you're stuffing in more people. Some estimates put the estimates much higher, but the 80 passenger capacity, of course. Some, their trains take on 100, 120 passengers. So now the volume is increased dramatically.

You bring in just a little bit of wet weather mixed in with all of it, it really makes it a disastrous scenario. We do have some showers coming in over the next couple of days, around Tsing Chung, and eventually makes its way farther to the south, around Nguon Cho, but not really a significant weather pattern.

But, John, there's been, again, tales told by people in years past that they're traveling, the nightmares for traveling are so rough that they're literally not drinking or eating as much as they would ideally want to on these trains because it takes 20 to 30 minutes to walk several meters to make it to the restroom inside these trains. So that, again, just kind of gives you the perspective of how many people we're talking about inside some of these trains.

VAUSE: Whoever said getting there is not fun, has never been on a train in China over the Lunar New Year period.

SESAY: Truly awful. Thank you, Pedram.

VAUSE: It's a tough trip. Well Australia's High Court has rejected the challenge to the legality of the governments controversial offshore detention centers. The decision allows hundreds of detainees to be sent back to the Pacific Island of Nauru from Australia, where they were transferred for medical care; but human rights groups have criticized conditions on the island nation of Nauru and children have reportedly been abused.

SESAY: Since 2012 refugees who arrive in Australia by boat have been sent to Nauru or Manus Island in Papua, New Guinea. If they're granted asylum they can settle in one of these countries.

We're going to take a quick break now. Bill Cosby was in a Pennsylvania courtroom for the first hearing in the sexual assault case against him and what a former prosecutor said on the stand that may help Cosby get the case dropped. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Bill Cosby back in court. This is a pretrial hearing to try to get the charges against him dropped. He's now arguing that there was an agreement for immunity between the former D.A. there, and because of that immunity deal that the deposition in a civil case should, in fact, be inadmissible in court.

SESAY: Areva Martin joins us now, a wonderful attorney who's with us all the time to help us sift through this first hearing in this case against Cosby. Areva Martin, how did he fair in court, because a key witness, I don't know if you'd call the prosecutor a witness -

AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Absolutely.

SESAY: -- was on the stand and hard to read what that meant for the case?

MARTIN: This is such an unusual situation. You have a criminal defendant, Bill Cosby, who's been charged with sexual assault by the current district attorney in this county and this pretrial motion that was filed by his team -- Cosby's team. Now a hearing and the former district attorney

that decided there wasn't enough evidence to move forward with the criminal prosecution, is now testifying on behalf of Bill Cosby, the defendant. That hardly ever happens -

SESAY: Incredible.

MARTIN: -- in a criminal case.

VAUSE: Talk to us about this immunity deal because the Defense team is saying there was a deal. Cosby could talk freely under oath, in a civil case, and there would be no charges. How common is this? What's the deal?

MARTIN: Well immunity deals happen all the time. Prosecutors use immunity as a way to get witnesses to testify; and sometimes it's you're immune from any prosecution and other times there's some restrictions about what that immunity deal will contain. In this case it is not just Cosby's team, it is that former D.A., Bruce Caster, who took the stand today, in that courtroom, and testified that yes, he did make a deal. He promised Bill Cosby that if he testified in this civil deposition, waived his 5th Amendment rights against self- incrimination there would be no prosecution.

SESAY: But there's nothing written down so if it's not written down --

VAUSE: There's a press release.

MARTIN: There's a press release with some double-talk in the press release.

SESAY: Yes, so where are we now?

VAUSE: It's pretty --

MARTIN: And that's what the current district attorney, that's his argument. He's saying, look, Bruce Caster may have made this oral promise to Bill Cosby and his team, it has no weight. It has no authority because, as you said, it wasn't written, nor was it approved by a judge.

VAUSE: If the judge rules the civil deposition is inadmissible in a criminal case where does the prosecution go from here?

MARTIN: Well, there's still a great possibility that the prosecution can move forward with this criminal case. They can use the testimony of the victim. They can use other evidence to prosecute the case, but what's so important to this prosecution is that deposition, Bill Cosby saying in his own words that he gave Andrea (Inaudible) a pill to relax her, and that they had this consensual sexual relationship.

Now, we know she's saying she was drugged, she did not consent to any sexual contact with Bill Cosby. So that definition is critical. The case could move forward even if the judge says look, prosecution, Bruce Caster made the agreement and because he's a district attorney, that has to mean something; even though it's not in writing, the public should be able to rely on a promise made by a sitting district attorney.

VAUSE: Out of time. Thank you very much.

SESAY: Great insight. thank you, Areva. Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom". I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. We'll be back after "World Sports". Stay with us.

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