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Diplomats Hammer Out Deal on Aid to Syrian Civilians; War Makes Getting In, Out of Aleppo Deadly; Heated Debate between Clinton, Sanders; Sanders Brings up Henry Kissinger at Debate; GOP Candidates Battle Ahead of S.C. Primary; U.S. Stock Markets in Red as Oil Price Slides; Doctors Without Borders: Syrians Being Buried Beneath Bombs; Did Israeli Visit Shape Sanders' Socialist Views; Pope, Russian Patriarch to Meet in Cuba; Einstein's Theory of Relativity Proven Right. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 12, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:47] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for joining us. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Our top story this hour, diplomats meeting in Munich have agreed to a cessation of hostilities in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the goal is to implement it in one week's time while expanded delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria begins immediately. The proposed deal will not include terrorist organizations like ISIS.
Kerry hailed the results of the agreement and said it could eventually lead to a permanent ceasefire. But he warned it will not be achieved unless all parties honor their commitments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: There's no way to institute a ceasefire effectively, and no way to produce the access we want for humanitarian assistance without all of the ISG (ph) members working with Russia and others in an effort to guarantee that the access is provided and that the cessation of hostilities actually takes hold. And to that end, we have agreed, all of us, to work with Russia in a way that deals with the political, the humanitarian, and the military components of this challenge.
SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translation): When we have written down the need of an integrated approach toward all these problems, I hope that the opposition and those who control various groups of opposition will have no more reasons to somehow avoid meeting their obligations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: CNN's Frederick Pleitgen had a rare opportunity to visit Aleppo, located in the heart of Syria's five-year war. He was accompanied by Syrian government troops. He joins us from Damascus with his exclusive report.
And, Fred, certainly, the crisis, the escalating the fighting there in Aleppo helped contribute to the cessation in the fighting?
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it certainly has. The region around Aleppo, Natalie, is the focal point of the Syrian government. And what it's trying to do, they're trying to encircle the rebel-held parts of Aleppo and, at the same time, it's trying to push north to the Turkish border to make sure rebels can't get resupplied from Turkey. But that's also causing major humanitarian problems on the ground as well.
We managed to visit the front line in downtown Aleppo and we saw the massive destruction there. Let's have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Years of urban combat have laid waste to the old town. Syrian army snipers scan the terrain for possible movement on the other side.
(on camera): We're right on the front line in the Syrian government's offensive against the opposition. And the soldiers here tell us they still frequently see rebels on the other side, but they also say they often pick them off from the snipers' nest.
(voice-over): This soldier tells me, morale has never been higher.
"Thanks to God, everything here is under control," he says. "Our fingers are on the triggers, ready to destroy the rebels."
Bashar al Assad's forces have made major gains in the Aleppo area in recent weeks, while the opposition rebels say they're simply being slaughtered.
But for years, this battlefield was in a stalemate. The front line right around Aleppo's ancient citadel.
As Syrian and Russian war planes hover overhead, the commander knows who to thank for the new-found momentum.
"It's only a matter of months until we win," he says. "Thanks to the Russian support flown from the Syrian air field, we will defeat the rebels once and for all."
Aleppo was Syria's largest and one of its most historic towns. Tourists from all over the world used to flock to the old town before it was engulfed by Syria's brutal civil war.
(on camera): The old town of Aleppo is a UNESCO world heritage site. Some of these buildings are hundreds if not thousands of years old. And as you can see, most have been completely destroyed and burned out.
(voice-over): But now Assad's troops believe they are on the verge of a decisive victory. The commander warns the U.S. not to interfere.
"We are steadfast," he says. "You cannot defeat the Syrian army, because we are determined to win and we're loyal to President Assad." Amid this divided and destroyed city, Syrian government forces believe
they're dealing a crushing blow to the opposition, one that could end this five-year civil war that's destroyed so much more than just the landscape.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:05:39] PLEITGEN: And it certainly has destroyed a lot more than the substance of that once so beautiful town, Natalie. Speaking to the citizens there of Aleppo, it really was sad to see the state they were in, not just in rebel-controlled areas, but government-controlled areas as well.
Of course, Aleppo has been on the front line of Syria's civil war, has seen some of the most fierce battles. And still, today, even in government-controlled areas, there's very little electricity, mostly coming from generators. But you can see what a psychological toll the ongoing fighting has taken. For some of the people in Aleppo, especially in the rebel-controlled area, the worst yet may still be to come -- Natalie?
ALLEN: It's amazing the video that we've seen, the ruin and the waste of this historic town. Hard to believe anyone was able to survive this long in Aleppo.
We thank you for your reporting. Fred Pleitgen live for us there in Damascus.
We turn now to the presidential campaign in the United States. It started out friendly enough, but by the end of their two-hour debate, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were throwing elbows and bickering over who was the bigger and most loyal supporter of President Barack Obama.
CNN's Mary Maloney has more on Thursday night's Democratic debate.
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MARY MALONEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton takes a page out of Bernie Sanders' playbook.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that wall street never wrecks Main Street again.
MALONEY: But she tried to dent Sanders by portraying his plans on health care as unrealistic.
CLINTON: That's a promise that cannot be kept.
MALONEY: Sanders made sure to check his rival.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet.
MALONEY: And called Clinton out on her stump speeches.
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
I have fought my entire life to make sure that health care is a right for all people. We're not going to dismantle anything.
MALONEY: Clinton turned to discrimination as a way to appeal to a much-needed base, Latino, African-American and women voters.
CLINTON: I'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back.
MALONEY: As both candidates look towards the Nevada primary, Sanders attempted to keep his young base with his debate performance while also courting the elderly vote.
SANDERS: If I'm elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefit, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans as well.
MALONEY: I'm Mary Maloney, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: One moment that caught a lot of people off guard during the debate was a bit of a blast from the past. That was when Bernie Sanders brought up Henry Kissinger, who served as a key strategist on the Vietnam War during President Richard Nixon's administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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SANDERS: I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince, Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some three million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger.
CLINTON: Because I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationship with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Well, earlier, I spoke with CNN political commentator, Hilary Rosen, who is also a Democrat, about the debate. She said both candidates stepped up their game during Thursday night's debate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hillary came into this debate really needing to show a few things. She needed to show that she hasn't lost her confidence, that she could be the eventually Democratic nominee. Her supporters needed to see that, that the loss in New Hampshire didn't devastate her. And I think she needed to continue to stake claim to the issues that Senator Sanders seems to want to hold for himself, which is that she understands that people in the middle class are hurting, that jobs and wages are stagnant. I think she did that tonight. But I think we also saw a much more polished Bernie Sanders tonight than we have seen before. You know, I thought this was really a great debate among two formidable candidates.
[02:10:38] ALLEN: When you say he was polished, can you elaborate on that?
ROSEN: He seemed readier for some of the criticisms, not as thrown off guard on some of the foreign policy questions. Clearly, Secretary Clinton is a stronger candidate when it comes to foreign policy. Her mastery of the issues is just evident.
But I thought Senator Sanders sort of reached a little bit more tonight, particularly in criticizing some of the allies that, you know, Secretary Clinton has relied on in the last couple of years. His attack on Henry Kissinger was particularly effective, I thought.
What they'll see in Senator Sanders is somebody who sort of had a little more facility tonight in talking about his foreign policy philosophy. I don't think it comes close enough to Secretary Clinton's, but I thought Sanders was better tonight on the subject.
ALLEN: And how did she do to try to win over the female voters out there who aren't gravitating towards her at this point?
ROSEN: You know, I loved Hillary's opening line about women and support. She said, "I fought all my life for women to be able to make choices, including the choice not to support me." You know, that showed sort of a level of self-deprecation and lightness that I think she needed. She needed to show women that she does not expect their vote just because she's a woman, but that she understands the struggle.
ALLEN: She has been described as a pragmatist and he as an idealist. What did she do or can she continue to do to make her pragmatism seem more appealing than his idealism?
ROSEN: You know, these labels are funny, because if she faces the Republicans in the fall, all they're going to do is call her a crazy, progressive liberal. They're not going to split hairs the way Sanders and his supporters are with her.
Having said that, look, she is who she is. She's a policy wonk. She's very much in the Barack Obama mold. She has ideals, but is willing and interested in making progress, so if that means taking what we call here a half a loaf instead of getting the whole thing, she will do that. But that's hard to -- it's hard to run on. It's hard to tell people, don't think about big dreams, think about what we can get accomplished because elections are sometimes times for people to dream. So she faces an uphill battle on that kind of rhetoric.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Hilary Rosen for us there.
We want to turn to the Republican race for the White House. Donald Trump revealed a softer tone on the campaign trail. He pulled a negative ad against Ted Cruz, replacing it with a positive one. Trump also warned his supporters not to believe political attack ads like Cruz's new spot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The home was all she had left. But it stood in Trump's way and the limousine parking lot he wanted for his casino. To him, she was a nobody. So Trump schemed with Atlantic City government to force her from her home using eminent domain. Trump uses power for personal gain. Imagine the damage he could do as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: That was a spot by Ted Cruz.
Marco Rubio, seen here, slammed several of his opponents while in South Carolina Thursday. He called out Trump, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich, saying they don't have the foreign policy and international affairs experience he has.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
Donald Trump has zero foreign policy experience. Negotiating a hotel deal in another country is not foreign policy experience.
(LAUGHTER)
Jeb Bush has no foreign policy experience. Period. There is no one left in the Republican field who has more experience or has proven to have better judgment on national security than I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: John Kasich attacked Jeb Bush on Thursday while speaking with reporters. He said Bush, who finished behind him in the New Hampshire primary, is tarnishing the Bush family name.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jeb is spending all his time being negative. Is he worried at all about his legacy? Everything is trashing people. I don't know what he's thinking. I don't know -- does he realize the family legacy?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:15:16] ALLEN: Well, Jeb Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush will hit the campaign trail on his behalf. He has stops in South Carolina next week.
Investors in Asia run for cover again as the stock market rout rolls around the world. We'll hear from an expert analyst coming next.
Plus, it seemed that Einstein is proven right again. Scientists say they've observed gravitational waves after a decade's-long search. We'll tell you how their discovery could alter our understanding of the universe.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Now to the markets where sliding oil prices continue to put pressure on stocks. In the U.S., the Dow fell more than 1.5 percent. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 also posted losses.
Asian markets are falling as well. Tokyo's Nikkei closed down nearly 5 percent on Friday. In Sydney, the ASX 200 lost more than 1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is still open and trading, and as you can see, is down at the moment.
Joining me now with a closer look at the market, Andrew Sullivan, the head of sales trading, Haitong International Securities. Andrew joins us from Hong Kong.
Tough days for people like you, Andrew, but let's talk about this.
Thank you for joining us.
What is the main reason for this sell-off?
[02:20:39] ANDREW SULLIVAN, SALES TRADING MANAGING DIRECTOR, HAITONG INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES: Well, I think we're seeing a number of factors coming together, really. The oil price being so low is putting some question over the budgets of those oil-producing countries. And we're also seeing the sovereign wealth funds of those countries maybe liquidizing some of their equity portfolios to make up that budget shortfall. And there are still concerns about some countries getting into financial problems. Some of the smaller oil- producing countries, certainly, their budget will be well out of kilter with the revenues they're going to earn.
ALLEN: With oil being such a marker affecting the situation worldwide, do you see anything turning this oil situation around to help stabilize these markets? SULLIVAN: Well, the problem is, I think, at the end of the day, that
the Saudis have outlined they'll be the last man standing. And unless we see a sort of deal as far as Saudis are concerned and the cutting of production targets, then realistically, the glut of oil is going to continue and the problem will be compounded. At the same time, you also have pressure on the currency because of that as well.
ALLEN: The Fed raised interest rates back in December, the first time since 2008, and that was seen as such a positive sign. What happened to that momentum?
SULLIVAN: I think it is a positive sign. At the end of the day, we do need interest rates to start rising. Unfortunately, we'll see some companies going bust because, at the moment, the problem is that with free money, then bad companies can continue to operate, and that brings down the performance of good companies. And we come down to the lowest common denominator. So, unfortunately, we have to get back to the situation where interest rates do go up.
The other problem is that a lot of the central banks have hoped by going to negative interest rates, they'll force people to start buying things, but certainly for the pensioners, and if you look at Japan specifically, where you have an aging population, pensioners aren't going to go out and spend if they see interest rates coming down and going negative. They're just going to save their money. And that's going to put pressure on the service sector and on the manufacturers because people just don't buy their goods.
ALLEN: Absolutely. That's a good point. What would we need to see interest rates go up?
SULLIVAN: Well, I think Janet Yellen is still committed to interest rates rising. And I think that the arbitrary 2 percent inflation that people are looking at, you know, it's kind of an academic dream, as is the theory that negative interest rates make people go out and spend. I think the reality is that we are going to have to see some companies go bust. We are going to see better companies then excel. And that will start inflation coming through, because the better companies will want to hire the better staff and they'll start increasing wages, and so the cycle will start again.
ALLEN: Sure is a shaky start to 2016. We'll wait and see what the next few months bring.
Thank you very much, Andrew Sullivan, with Haitong International Securities. Thanks for your time.
Well, American Scott Kelly has spent more than 500 days in space, over six different missions, and he's now been in space longer than any other U.S. astronaut. In his latest mission, Kelly, seen here on the right, is participating in a health study with his twin brother, you see there, a retired astronaut. The study compares the toll that living in space has on Scott's body with Mark's. Mark, who, of course, lives on earth. Medical tests will examine the impact zero gravity has on bone density, vision and heart function.
Kelly spoke with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta about what it's been like to spend so much time in space.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT KELLY, AMERICAN ASTRONAUT: A year now seems longer than I thought it would be. And so I definitely have an appreciation for, you know, certain things that freedom and being on earth provide. But, you know, certainly being confined for this period of time is not something that I think people would -- it's different when you're in space and doing something that is important, but I definitely think I would kind of relish my freedom more after this experience maybe than I did before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:25:09] ALLEN: Well, he certainly sent wonderful pictures from the international space station on Twitter all these months. Scott Kelly is scheduled to return to earth from the international space station on March 1st. What a landing that will be for him and his twin brother to greet him.
When we come back, the potential for peace in the bloody Syrian civil war cannot come soon enough, as Doctors without Borders warn that civilians are being buried beneath bombs. I'll be speaking with the international aid organization coming next.
Also ahead, details on the upcoming meeting between Pope Francis and his Russian Orthodox counterpart and why this meeting is so significant.
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ALLEN: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. Let's update you on our top stories.
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[02:30:25] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A driving force behind the deal struck in Germany for a cessation of hostilities in Syria is the suffering of its people. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced after Thursday's meeting that they will waste no time in getting aid to those who need it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have agreed to accelerate and expand the delivery of humanitarian aid beginning immediately. Sustained delivery will begin this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Much of Aleppo, at the heart of Syria's civil war, as you can see right here, has been reduced to rubble. The International Red Cross estimates 50,000 people have been displaced by increased fighting there. Shelter, food, and water are in short supply. So are electricity and fuel to combat the winter cold. The need for aid is just as dire in other parts of Syria as it is in Aleppo. And joining me now from Turkey is Sam Taylor, Syria communications
coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.
We appreciate your time.
I want to first start, though, we have just seen the video of Aleppo. It just seems absolutely shattered. It's hard to believe anyone was still living there. And now what are they up against as they have fled this city?
SAM TAYLOR, SYRIA COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (voice-over): The thing is, Natalie, Aleppo has been bearing the brunt of this conflict for several years now, but there's still remains an estimated 200 to 300,000 people inside. Doctors Without Borders are inside Aleppo city and they report on a daily basis numerous aerial attacks, resulting in casualties in the clinic.
Moving away from the city towards the Turkish border, what we're seeing -- and we have a hospital in the region. And what we're seeing is a massive influx of people who arrive with more or less just the shirts on their backs. They're living in the cold. They need shelter. They need tents. We've been helping families. We've helped around 1,000 families so far. We're trying to ramp up as quickly as we can. But there are really terrible conditions for these people, who, bear in mind, this is five years of this they've suffered. It's an appalling process.
ALLEN: Absolutely. We have been talking about Aleppo and showing all of the horrors that have been happening in the city for years. Just still cannot believe people have endured there. So what are they up against now, and what are you up against, and your organization, to try to get the assistance to them wherever they have run to in this hopefully not a short live break in the fighting?
TAYLOR: Up until now, we've been able to bring medical supplies into around 40 structures inside Aleppo on a regular basis. Around two weeks ago, we prepositioned three months of supplies to allow the clinics to keep on working. But the conditions they're working in and the injuries they're facing are horrific. Right now the border is still open, so we're able to bring material through, even though the main supply road has been cut. But if the city gets encircled and we get into a siege situation, that's extremely concerning. It's worth bearing in mind, with the potential siege of Aleppo, this is just one place where people are being used as a tactic of war. We saw people starving to death. It's not just the government of Syria that's besieging people. It's other groups, and the Atlantic State group also. We estimate between 1.5 and two million people are living in these conditions, which is utterly unacceptable.
ALLEN: I don't know how your organization does it. And I was reading that some of your own personnel had to get out with their families and get out of Aleppo. So what kind of danger does Doctors Without Borders still face when you are moving in these supplies? I mean, hopefully, this fighting will stay stopped for some time to give you the help you need. But I just don't understand how your group has continued to operate under these circumstances. TAYLOR: Natalie, it's the dedication of our colleagues inside Syria,
both the ones that work for MSF and the ones what we support. They've endured unbelievable conditions over the last five years and condition to work. Many medical staff have fled, which we fully understand, including some of our staff. In the same situation, it's entirely understandable if people choose not to stay. But what's remarkable, people have stayed and continue to work in these conditions.
When it comes to international staff, we haven't been able to put international staff inside Syria since 2014, because we had an issue with abductions of our staff that was resolved, thankfully. But we don't work in Islamic State-controlled area. And we don't work in Syria-controlled areas because we haven't been able to negotiate access. So even for an organization like MSF, Doctors Without Borders, who work in Afghanistan and all the war zones in the world, this is probably the most insecure environment we've experienced and it makes it very challenging to deliver aid. But it's our Syrian colleagues who are going through all this, and through their dedication and hard work, we've been able to continue our support.
[02:35:56] ALLEN: That's wonderful. We're looking at video of all of these tent cities and we're seeing pictures of the elderly and the children. It is just unbelievable for the rest of the world to begin to appreciate the dire circumstances.
Thank you so much for talking with us, Sam Taylor, there in Turkey for us. We wish you the best and all of your team.
Well, half a century ago, Bernie Sanders visited a cornerstone of Israeli society. Coming up, why some say his trip may have shaped the presidential candidate's Socialist views.
Also ahead here, how the pope is helping to heel a thousand-year rift with the Russian Orthodox Church.
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ALLEN: More than 50 years ago, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, traveled to northern Israel. He visited a kibbutz, one of the collective farms that played a big role in early Israeli society.
As CNN's Will Ripley reports, some say that visit may have shaped Sanders' Socialist views.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:40:05] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could this be the birth place of Bernie Sanders' Socialism? Don't be fooled by all the green, or how most people get around. Shar Hamaquin (ph) is no golf course community. It's a kibbutz, a Socialist settlement near Haifa in northern Israel.
Abert Elly (ph), a kibbutznic for almost 60 years.
ABERT ELLY (ph), WORKS ON KIBBUTZ: Everything belongs to everybody. RIPLEY: In Israel's early day, collective farms were a corner stone
of this society. Neighbors looked after the land, sharing profits equally.
(on camera): This is Socialism?
ELLY (ph): That was once Communism. Today it's Socialism. Cal it whatever you want.
RIPLEY (voice-over): This kibbutz modeled after the Communist ideals of the former Soviet Union. For decades, people from all over the world volunteered to live, work and study here, including an American in the early '60s whose name stuck out.
ELLY (ph): The only thing that I remember is that an American calling himself Bernard. It's a French name.
RIPLEY: Elly (ph) doesn't recognize Bernie Sanders, seen here in his early 20s. The self-described Democratic Socialist has long said he traveled to a kibbutz but has been vague on where he volunteered. But Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, dug up a 1990 interview with Sanders who claimed he spent several months here in 1963.
Back then, Elly (ph) was in charge of dozens of volunteers who came to labor and learn about Socialism.
ELLY (ph): We spoke and maybe that had an influence on him.
RIPLEY: The work was simple, growing crops, raising cattle.
(on camera): What do you make of the fact that someone who very likely was here with you as a volunteer is now a candidate for president of the United States?
ELLY (ph): I'm happy. I hope he changes things. Not for me. I'm too old. For the rest of the people.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Today, the kibbutz makes most of its money producing solar water heaters, but volunteers from overseas stopped coming a decade ago. When they left, business dried up at the old pub, now closed.
These days, only rusty reminders of a place where young idealists like Sanders once gathered, sharing drinks and dreams of changing the world.
Will Ripley, CNN, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Pope Francis is flying to Cuba right now on his first leg of a trip to Latin America. The pope left Rome in the past hour. He will land in Havana later for a historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. And later Friday, Francis will land in Mexico. The man the pope is meeting with, Patriarch Kirill, of Moscow, has
already landed in Cuba. President Raul Castro welcomed him on Thursday.
This meeting between Pope Francis and the patriarch has been a very, very long time in the making, as CNN's Matthew Chance reports for us from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHANTING)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early morning liturgy, and a sense in the Russian Orthodox Church that a new era may be dawning. Their patriarch, the close ally of the Kremlin, is set to meet his Roman Catholic counterpart. Nearly a thousand years of separation will soon be over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe Kremlin, maybe President Putin looks at patriarch as some instrument for producing his politics now, in this situation.
CHANCE: Both the pope and the patriarch say the crisis in the Middle East is pushing them together. Across the region, Christian holy sites have been destroyed --
(EXPLOSION)
CHANCE: -- often deliberately by Islamic extremists.
(CHANTING)
CHANCE: Christians of all denominations have been singled out for brutal execution, like this group of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt, murdered last year in Libya by ISIS.
Unlike many Western governments, the Vatican has refrained from condemning Russian air strikes on Syrian rebels. And for the Kremlin, closer ties between the two churches, say experts, makes sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation) I think we could see joint initiatives to convince international leaders to think about the bloodshed and about the Christian relics being destroyed and about the fact that in the region where it originated 2,000 years ago, the very existence of Christianity is now under threat.
CHANCE (on camera): Not sense the Great Schism of 1054, which divided Christianity into eastern and western churches, have the leaders of the two branches ever met. For centuries there was contempt and distrust. Even in recent years, the relationship has been shrouded by suspicion, that the Vatican, for instance, is converting Orthodox believers, poaching Russian souls. All that, though, now appears to have been set aside.
(voice-over): Even during the conflict in Ukraine last year, there were signs of warming relations. Pope Francis holding back from condemning Russian actions. Instead, calling the war a conflict between Christians. No reference to any Russian invasion.
[02:45:28] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he takes the position which, in some way, perhaps is quite pleasant for Russian officials, and for president.
CHANCE (on camera): It's possible that the Kremlin sees the Vatican as a kind of political ally?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. Exactly.
CHANCE (voice-over): An ally which may help break the isolation not just of the Russian Orthodox Church, but of the Kremlin, too.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: And I'd like to remind you, CNN will be there every step of the way as the pope stops in Cuba for this meeting before heading to Mexico, from the historic meeting with the Russian Orthodox patriarch, to a mass on the Mexican border with the United States. Our live coverage of Pope Francis starts in the coming day right here on CNN.
And still to come here this hour, fighting fictional crime on the mean streets of Sydney. The pint-sized super hero who banished the bad guys and melted hundreds of hearts along the way. We'll have this sweet story for you. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:50:31] ALLEN: Well, here's one for you, Rapper Kanye West has a multi-million dollar off on the table. Former pharmaceutical CEO, Martin Shkreli, tweeted West Thursday, saying he will pay $10 million for sole ownership of his new album, "The Life of Pablo." No response yet from Kanye West. Last year, Shkreli paid $2 million for the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan's latest album. Shkreli became the picture of corporate greed after he potentially raised the price of a life- saving drug 5,000 percent.
Scientists have announced that gravitational waves first theorized by Albert Einstein one century ago are real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have detected gravitational waves. We did it.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space and time caused by two black holes that spiraled together about 1.3 billion years ago. Scientists used a technique to actually hear the black holes collide, something they couldn't do before. They say that could open up a whole new area of astronomy.
And here to help us understand what the fuss around gravitational waves, Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who is using a soccer ball to help us understand. Take it away.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's analogy time, Natalie.
ALLEN: We need it, because I've read this story three or four times today, and I'm like --
VAN DAM: It's confusing. I'm going to try my best.
ALLEN: Do it.
VAN DAM: Analogy time. This ball is space and time. My hand is the gravity wave. So watch what happens when the gravity wave works on the space and time. It stretches it. It alters it. It contorts it. This is something that Einstein theorized a hundred years ago to the date, and it's now just proven that it's correct because they've detected it.
The relative theory of relativity by Einstein himself, E equals MC squared -- you may have heard that equation before. It only took 1.5 billion years for it to reach the earth. That being the gravity wave. It was only here for 200 milliseconds and it moved a vacuum tube by 1/400th of the diameter of a proton. We are talking about an extremely small shift.
What do we need to get a gravity wave to form? A large mass, like the sun, or a black hole, as in this instance, in fact, two black holes that were 30 times the mass of the sun, actually colliding. This catastrophic collision that took place in the universe 1.5 billion years ago, actually created this impulse of energy that is still propagating across the universe, known as a gravity wave. It had three times the mass of the sun, and it continues to move throughout the planet, and -- or the universe, and it reached the planet and it allowed for that little shift in the vacuum tubes to be detected in what is called a wave observatory. One that was in Washington and one that was in Louisiana. They look like this. They're about two and a half mile-long tubes and these are the detection points that they determined and proved Einstein's theory of relativity. This is the shift in that movement. Again, 1/400th of the diameter of a proton. Can you believe it?
But this is so, so huge for astronomy, because it's going to allow for us to see far-away stars, galaxies and black holes that we never knew existed. We have the potential, Natalie, to see the beginnings of time, if you believe in the Big Bang theory, for instance.
ALLEN: Fascinating.
VAN DAM: It is.
ALLEN: And the sound was like chirp.
VAN DAM: A little chirp. ALLEN: A little chirp but with big, big ramifications.
VAN DAM: Big implications.
ALLEN: Thanks, Derek. You did a good job.
VAN DAM: Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: Most 9-year-old boys dream of being super heroes, but few get the chance. So it was a special day for Dominic who lives in Sydney, Australia. The New South Wales police force and the Make-A-Wish, Australia, joined forces to request his help to save the city from fictional bad guys.
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[02:55:15] ALLEN: Dominic suffers from cystic fibrosis. He rose to the challenge, as he donned a special suit and took on the persona of an Iron Boy to make a rescue and to defeat the villain.
As a legion of fans cheered outside the Sydney Opera House, Iron Boy was given his reward.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a real pleasure. I'm very, very proud to present to you the Medal of Valor.
(CHEERING)
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ALLEN: How sweet is that?
And just when it seemed the day couldn't get any better, Dominic received a special message from Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr.
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ROBERT DOWNEY JR, ACTOR: I hope you had lots of fun. I bet you enjoyed the helicopter ride this morning. I just want to wish you all the best. Keep up the good work. And listen here, I don't do this very often, but I'm making you an honorary member of the Avengers.
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ALLEN: Sydney is definitely safer and Dominic is one happy little super hero. We're glad to end on that for this hour. But we have much more ahead
in next hour.
Plus, the Valentine story of the year, the couple that reunited after 72 years apart. Wonder how that went? We'll tell you.
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