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North Korea Missile Launch Fails; Earthquake, Sparks Fly at Democratic Debate in Brooklyn; Aftershocks Strike Southern Japan; Proof of Life Video of Chibok Girls; Chinese Economy Growth at Slowest Rate in Seven Years; Tales Of War, Survival At Lesbos Camp. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 15, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[01:00:28] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

We're following breaking news out of North Korea. U.S. and South Korean defense officials say the North Koreans attempted to fire a missile from its eastern coast on Friday but the launch failed. South Korean media report it could have been an intermediate range missile which could reach the island of Guam where the U.S. has military bases.

CNN is the only U.S.-based network in North Korea. Will Ripley joins us now on the line from North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.

So, Will, any word there in North Korea about this launch?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, I'm driving through Pyongyang right now. We just left an exhibition hall where I spoke with several North Koreans who are not aware of the attempted missile launch that the United States and South Korea have reported. That's because there's no official announcement on the state media here and because North Koreans don't have access to the Internet or outside forms of communication, the only way that they learn about these things is if the state media make an announcement.

So if there's something triumphant announcement, for example the satellite launch earlier this year or the purported H-bomb, North Koreans are very keenly aware of many of the details of those events. But other things, such as this morning's purported failed missile attempt again unconfirmed by the North Korean government. North Koreans may not know about it if there isn't an official announcement made.

VAUSE: Right now this is a day of celebration in North Korea, which is why a lot of intelligence analysts had expected something like this.

RIPLEY: That's right. Today is the Day of the Sun. It marks the birthday of North Korea's founder and eternal president, Kim Il-Sung, and even more than 20 years after his death, there are tens of thousands of people who are out celebrating today. There are 25,000 flowers named after the late president called Kimilsungia that are on display. And alongside those flowers there are mock-ups of the rocket that launched -- the satellite -- into orbit earlier this year.

And so we talked to a lot of North Koreans about the feeling of national pride that they have not only for their leadership but also for their country's military achievements. And when I asked whether they think that these military actions may further isolate the country, lead to more economic sanctions, they replied that they absolutely think their government is doing the right thing by conducting these tests because they say it's the only way for North Korea to defend itself against what the state media constantly reinforces here which is that there is an imminent threat, the government believes, an invasion by the United States.

So of course all of this is what people are telling us on camera, on the record, they very much support their country's military activities, even if it comes at a cost.

VAUSE: What do we know about what sort of missiles the North Koreans have and what sort of missiles this failed launch may have involved?

RIPLEY: Yes. Well, you know, obviously everything with North Korea, there's not a whole lot of transparency on the part of the military about what technology they possess, but when we attended the military parade back in October, a lot of intelligence experts were looking at the video that we took and other news outlets took, showing some new types of missiles that were on display. One known as the KN-14, mobile ballistic missile that could potentially hit as far as the pacific northwest of the United States.

There's also the KN-08 which is supposed to be a less sophisticated version of that and then you mentioned earlier, the Musudan missile which could potentially hit Guam where there are U.S. military bases as well. So there's no indication yet of which kind of missile, certainly no official confirmation of which kind of missile was attempted to be launched. However, given the fact that North Korea has now apparently attempted this once, you can bet that there will be in the coming months, a test again.

And if there is a successful launch from a mobile missile device, then North Korea will certainly announce it. They will herald it and the world will know what North Korea wants them to know is that they possess the technology would allow them to launch these missiles that could reach the U.S. and other areas, Japan, South Korea. And they could move the launch location around the country very easily, making it difficult for spy satellites to trace.

But certainly an alarming development for the rest of the world. Something that would be celebrated here in North Korea if there were a successful launch. So we'll have to wait and see if that happens and if it does, what kind of announcement is made on the part of the North Korean government, but so far nothing from them today on this attempt.

VAUSE: OK. Will, thank you. Will Ripley there on the line from Pyongyang with the latest. But we're going to stay with this story. Paula Hancocks is live this hour in Seoul, South Korea. [01:05:02] So, Paula, what more are the South Koreans and I guess the

Americans now saying about this failed missile test?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, both have confirmed that it did in fact fail. We're hearing from a U.S. State Department official that they believe that it failed, but also calling on North Korea to refrain from any actions or any rhetoric that will simply make matters worse and that will raise tensions on the peninsula.

We're also hearing from Yonhap news agency here in South Korea. They say that they believe it was that Musadan missile which it has a range between 2500 to 3500 kilometers, it is believed, which could hit Guam if fired. It's one that hasn't been tested before, and certainly if it's from that mobile launcher, it will be very difficult to detect that we have heard from two U.S. officials over recent days, that it would be -- it would change the American calculus for North Korea if they were able to fire this kind of missile from a mobile launcher.

Now of course it has failed according to authorities, but it doesn't mean that they haven't learned anything. North Korea still learns from each and every failure and experts are telling me that the fact that they have tried it is significant and what have they learned from it -- John.

VAUSE: And Paula, there will be, you know, worldwide condemnation of this attempted missile launch but more importantly, what will the Chinese be saying about this? Because it seems their position towards Pyongyang has shifted subtlety in the last few weeks or months.

HANCOCKS: You're right. I think it's fair to say that the Chinese stance has hardened when it comes to North Korea. China is really one of the very few allies that North Korea has. It's the biggest trading partner and we've seen that Beijing has put its weight behind those U.N. sanctions back in March that had been described as unprecedented and groundbreaking. And of course it all falls to China, most of it falls to China as to whether or not those sanctions work and whether or not they are implemented on the ground as they share that massive border with North Korea, and that's where much of the trade goes back and forth.

They have been saying over recent weeks and months that they don't want anything to be increasing tensions on the peninsula. They're calling as they always do for denuclearization and dialogue at the same time -- John.

VAUSE: OK. Paula Hancocks, also live this hour, reporting from Seoul. Thank you, Paula.

Now to U.S. politics and the CNN Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn, New York, started with fireworks. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were at each other constantly throughout the debate. At one time the moderator Wolf Blitzer read the riot act trying to tell them to essentially stop talking because no one could hear them if they shouted over each other.

Sanders questioned Clinton's judgment while Clinton said Sanders would not be able to deliver on his campaign promises.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Does Secretary Clinton have the experience and the intelligence to be a president? Of course she does. But I do question --

(CHEERS)

SANDERS: But I do question her judgment. I question a judgment which voted for the war in Iraq.

(CHEERS)

SANDERS: The worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. Voted for virtually every disastrous trade agreement which cost us millions of decent paying jobs.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He did say that he had to question my judgment. Well, the people of New York voted for me twice be to their senator from New York and President Obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of state for the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, for more on this, joining me now is CNN Politics reporter MJ Lee in Brooklyn. Here in Los Angeles, David Jacobson, a Democratic strategist, and John Thomas, a Republican consultant.

MJ, first to you. Neither candidate was playing nice during this debate. They were playing to win. Take a look at the front page of the "New York Daily News." "Brooklyn Brawlers" is the headlines for tomorrow's edition. Would you say that this has been their most contentious debate so far?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No doubt about it. This was without a doubt the most combative and dramatic Democratic presidential debate that we have seen all cycle. Really going to show just how much is at stake as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders head into next week's New York primary.

Tonight really I think showed two fights that are going on simultaneously. One is really over policy. We saw throughout the two-hour debate the two candidates really going at each other on issues like Wall Street, Social Security, gun control, national security, what the U.S.'s role should be in the Israel-Palestinian conflicts.

[01:10:05] On all of these issues both Clinton and Sanders trying to prove that they are -- have records that are more progressive and in line with the Democratic base. Now the second tension that we really saw come to play as well was Sanders arguing that Clinton has a problem when it comes to judgment and Clinton trying to make the case that Sanders is inexperienced and is not a pragmatic candidate, and I can tell you that until the moment that the Democratic nominee is chosen, this is a narrative that we are going to see driving this Democratic race.

VAUSE: Absolutely. MJ, stay with us.

I want to go to Dave and John here now with me. One of the big clashes of the night -- one of the first clashes of the night was over the transcript of Hillary Clinton's speeches to Wall Street and Bernie Sanders and his tax returns. This is some of the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Let's set the same standard for everybody. When everybody does it, OK. I will do it. But let's set and expect the same standard on tax returns. Everybody does it and then we move forward.

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton, you just heard her, everybody else does it, she'll do it. I will do it. Second of all, of course, we will release our taxes. Jane does our taxes. We've been a little bit busy lately. You'll excuse us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dave, first to you, do you think that by now Hillary Clinton would actually have an answer prepared for this Bernie Sanders' attack on the transcript to speeches to Wall Street?

DAVID JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, this hits not just to the Wall Street issue but to the honesty issue. The problem and the challenge for Hillary is that it sounds like -- it puts her in a position where she looks like she's hiding something, right? And the reality is it's not realistic to say look, if the Republicans release all their records, you know, then I think, you know, I'll also release mine.

And I think the challenge for Bernie Sanders is, at the same time when the tax issue was brought up, he almost sort of look like a hypocrite. He's challenging Hillary Clinton for sort of hiding something but simultaneous to that he won't release something as simple as his tax records which he says are no big deal.

VAUSE: And, John, that's the point. I mean, you know, get -- get them done, you know.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: I love my wife, honey, go home, open the file cabinet.

VAUSE: Yes.

THOMAS: Grab the two pieces of paper and get it done. Look, I think the -- it's a bigger problem for Hillary than it is for Bernie because a lot of Americans think that Hillary Clinton is not trustworthy and has trust issues. This just underscores it. And she kept trying to dodge the question and kept getting called on it.

VAUSE: She didn't answer it. MJ, I want to go back to you because this issue of Bernie Sanders and

his tax returns, this issue fairly new. Has this been coming up on the campaign?

LEE: Well, it's important to keep in mind at tonight's debate the issue of Sanders' tax returns only came up because Clinton first brought them up when she was asked about the Goldman Sachs speeches and the transcripts from those speeches. She really pivoted and said look, I'm happy to -- release, rather, the transcripts if everyone else does the same thing and speaking of transparency and standards, I think everyone else in this race should also be held to the same standards when it comes to tax returns, basically raising the question of why has Sanders been not as transparent when it comes to his tax returns.

Now of course Sanders saying at tonight's debate that he will return his 2014 tax returns tomorrow and that the tax returns from earlier years are actually coming soon as well and he really sort of took a dismissive tone saying that, you know, everyone is getting so excited about my tax returns, but believe me there is nothing interesting in them.

VAUSE: OK. You know, just like previous debates, we had the situation where Hillary Clinton went after Bernie Sanders on guns. He went after her on Wall Street. You know, this was, again, some of the exchange. But this was actually a pretty powerful moment for Hillary Clinton I think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Back in 1988 I ran for the United States Congress one seat in the state of Vermont. I probably lost that election, which I lost by three points, because I was the only candidate running who said you know what, we should ban assault weapons, not see them sold or distributed in the United States of America.

CLINTON: Senator Sanders did run for the Congress and he lost. He came back in 1990 and he won. And during that campaign, he made a commitment to the NRA that he would be against waiting periods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I guess, John, you know, wash, rinse, repeat. But this time it seemed that, you know, Secretary Clinton had a lot more information on Senator Sanders when it came to the gun issues.

THOMAS: Yes. She came ready with her (INAUDIBLE) book in hand and it was surprising that Senator Sanders on both of these issues, he had to know the attacks were coming. Right? On guns, he knew the attacks are coming. On his tax returns, had to know it was coming.

JACOBSON: Right.

THOMAS: So it really was a missed opportunity for Sanders to just say look, the NRA gave me a D minus, get over it, Hillary. Let's get back to how you're a liar. [01:15:03] JACOBSON: Well, look, I mean, the gun issue is a potent

issue in New York and I think it fundamentally speaks to the fact that Bernie Sanders isn't trying to pander to New York voters and he needs to be. He's down by 15 points. Right? I mean, this -- whether it's Israel, whether it's on gun control issues, I mean -- former Republicans now independents like Mayor Michael Bloomberg are for gun control in New York. I mean, that speaks to how important and potent that issue is on that state.

VAUSE: And you mentioned the whole question on Israel. This was possibly one of the defining moments of the debate, if you like. The Palestinian issue, Bernie Sanders very critical of Israel. I call for reassessment of U.S. policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Houses decimated, health care decimated, schools decimated. I believe the United States and the rest of the world have got to work together to help the Palestinian people. That doesn't make me anti- Israel, that paves a way I think --

WOLF BLITZER, CNN DEBATE MODERATOR: Thank you, Senator.

SANDERS: -- for an approach that works in the Middle East.

BLITZER: Thank you.

CLINTON: You know, again, describing the problem is a lot easier than trying to solve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I mean, this was the first time a major politician has taken a stance like this in U.S. politics in a very, very long time. Do you think this will hurt him in New York?

JACOBSON: Absolutely. I mean, it speaks again to the fact that he's not pandering to New York voters. And that's precisely what he needs to do. He needs to fundamentally -- he calls for political revolution in our democracy, he needs a political revolution in New York in five days if he wants to catch up to Hillary Clinton and he clearly didn't deliver that tonight at this debate, particularly on the Israel issue with so many Jewish voters in the Empire State.

THOMAS: Bernie's plea tonight was for the hardened soul of the liberal Democratic Party. He basically made the case that I am the most authentic Democrat running. I am the one you can fall in love with. You're the one she's me.

VAUSE: OK. OK. Well, with that in mind, MJ, back to you there in Brooklyn. Do you think Bernie Sanders did enough to close, what, that 12 or 15-point gap which he's trailing -- Secretary Clinton right now?

LEE: Look, I think the bottom line is that Bernie Sanders has a very tough race ahead and if Clinton and her surrogates often like to point out, Sanders has a problem when it comes to the math and the numbers. He is far behind in the delegate count and it is difficult for him to catch up to Clinton at this point. But you should also keep in mind, of course, as so much of this race is about the optics and that is why there is so much at stake going into next week's New York primary.

This is a race that could really turn the narrative around in the Democratic race if Clinton is able to have a decisive and a big victory, then perhaps people start to say look, she has really got this locked down. Whereas if Sanders is able to actually win in New York which seems unlikely or is able to come in very close to Clinton, then he gets to continue this narrative that he has the momentum and that he can keep going and that Clinton is not able to lock this thing down yet.

VAUSE: OK. MJ, we'll say thank you to you there in Brooklyn because we're going to shift now to the Republican side. Because the "New York Post" has come out. They have endorsed Donald Trump in this campaign, not that he needed it. Let's have a look at that cover there with the endorsement. And at a campaign rally, he actually went after Ted Cruz again. So this is the endorsement. "Trump is now an imperfect messenger carrying a bible message, but he reflects the best of 'New York' values and others the best hope," we've changed the graphic. Here we are. "For all Americans who rightly feel betrayed by the political class."

And then at this rally again he went after Ted Cruz. The Lying Ted Cruz narrative. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So Lying Ted Cruz talked about New York values at the debate and he talked about it with anger and really hatred. I mean, he was trying to make a point against me. Boy, did that one hit him hard. That was not something -- because he's doing very well. Right now he's I guess number three in the polls in New York and many of the other states. And nobody even knows who number two is. They don't know. Isn't it amazing the way some names just stick to people?

CROWD: Lying Ted. Lying Ted. Lying Ted.

TRUMP: Isn't it amazing the way some names just stick to people?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, this just goes to show what a skilled politician Donald Trump has been if he was able to define his opponents.

THOMAS: It stuck. I mean, Little Marco. Lying Ted. I mean --

VAUSE: Low energy Jeb.

THOMAS: Low energy Jeb. I mean, he has a great way to brand people and it stuck. And the attack that was so smartly used against him early on is now coming back to be the New York, it's why he's winning New York and Ted Cruz is in a distant third. JACOBSON: I think that was one of the biggest mistakes for Ted Cruz

is that he doubled down on the New York values issue. I think it was reflective of what Marco Rubio did in that New Hampshire debate where he was sort of coming off as robotic, saying Barack Obama knows, right, precisely, and the next day he repeated that. It was the same thing.

[01:20:09] VAUSE: But then he apologized.

JACOBSON: He needed to pivot away.

VAUSE: Yes. He needed to do that.

JACOBSON: Right. Right.

VAUSE: OK. Dave Jacobson, John Thomas, thank you for both being here. It's been fun. And CNN will replay the highlights from the Democratic debate in Brooklyn. Be sure to tune in Friday 7:00 p.m. in Hong Kong and noon in London.

We'll take a short break here but when we come back a deadly earthquake has hit some in Japan, bringing down buildings and injuring hundreds. We'll find out the potential for aftershocks in a moment.

And in Nigeria there's sadness and a little hope. Two years after hundreds of school girls were kidnapped. Our exclusive story coming up later this hour.

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(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Rescue efforts underway in southern Japan after a strong earthquake and a number of aftershocks sent buildings tumbling. State broadcaster NHK reports at least nine people were killed in a magnitude 6.1 quake. At least 135 people have been hospitalized in the city of Kumamoto. Aftershocks are expected to continue for the next week.

Well, for more on the deadly quake, let's go to Mike Firn. He joins us now live from Tokyo.

[01:25:01] So, Mike, what's the latest on the rescue for people who may still be trapped under the rubble?

MIKE FIRN, JOURNALIST: Well, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has committed 3,000 members of the South Defense Force police and firefighters to take part in the rescue operation. And he says this is a race against time. He will send more people as needed.

CNN has confirmed nine people dead, nearly 800 injured, 50 of those seriously. Also 15,000 people evacuated and authorities telling people not to go back to their homes in the next week if they were damaged by the quake because of the danger of aftershocks. Also 114,000 homes without fire. We saw roads ripped up, houses collapsing and catching fire. One Shinkansen was thrown off the rails. The Kyushu Shinkansen service, the bullet train service, still suspended along with five local rail operations and two highways.

Also we have two nuclear power plants on the island of Kyushu. The Sendai is the only operational plant in Japan and there are no reports of abnormalities there. But I spoke with Michael Cucek, a politics professor here in Tokyo, and he says that this nuclear concern comes at a sweet spot for the opponents of restarting these power plants with the earthquake just happening here in Kyushu because it comes just ahead of the summer elections. He says now Prime Minister Abe needs to be seen to be omnipresent no matter what his personal involvement is.

VAUSE: And, Mike, how powerful are those aftershocks and what sort of impact are they having on the rescue efforts?

FIRN: Well, in the last half hour we had a magnitude 4 aftershock. There have been over 100 since the quake happened just before 9:30 last night. And the metrological agency saying that these are going to continue over the next week up to an intensity of 6 minus on the Japanese scale.

I spoke with Professor Robert Gala who's a seismologist at Tokyo University. He says that there are going to be aftershocks for the next couple of weeks. They could even last for as long as a year after this earthquake. He says that the increasing tectonic activity raises the risk of an even bigger quake in the region, maybe a quake in another part of Japan and also possible volcanic activity at Mount Aso which is a sometimes active volcano on the island of Kyushu. There's no signs of any increased activity at Mount Aso at the moment.

VAUSE: OK, Mike. Thank you, Mike Firn, there live in Tokyo.

We'll stay with the story. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now from the international weather center with more on the quake.

And Derek, I guess there's been all these aftershocks. We've heard from Mike reporting them. But also the other big factor here, this was a fairly shallow earthquake.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's important. Such a key part of this story, as well, John. And we'll get to that in just one moment. But almost 100 aftershocks recorded already. Japan Meteorological Agency. Think about the structures that have already been compromised from the original magnitude 6.2 earthquake. This is significant because any further aftershocks could damaged buildings that are already been again compromised.

There's a few different ways earthquakes can occur in this part of the world. We have our normal fault line separated almost creating a seduction in the earth's ground. We also have that reversed tectonic movement that pushes or thrusts the earth upwards but in this particular instance we had what is called a strike slip. Now this is important because the ground actually moved in parallel next to each other sending ripples of energy across the earth's surface and as John just mentioned it's all about the depth of this earthquake and this was a relatively shallow earthquake, 10 kilometers deep.

And that is problematic because you combine that with a heavily populated area like this part of Japan and that causes all kinds of problems as we saw with, well, of course the unfortunate fatalities and the extreme amount of shaking that was felt. What you're looking at here is from the U.S. Geological Survey and those little two shaped features, shaded in orange. That is the area that saw or felt strong to severe shaking. But that is the one kilometer square radius that is indicating anywhere between half a million to upwards of a million people feeling that strong to severe shaking. So it was quite a quake with more aftershocks expected for the weeks to come -- John.

VAUSE: Yes. Not over yet for a little while. OK, Derek. Thank you, Derek Van Dam there in Atlanta.

Well, Iraq is often in the news but not for this.

You can hear the surprised voices reacting to a rare tornado. It struck near an oil refinery in the southeast of the country. That's the source of the fireball. The tornado caused minor damage but no casualties. Storms have been pounding the region all week.

[01:30:09] Well, next here on CNN, protesters are calling for Nigeria to do more to find hundreds of girls kidnapped two years ago.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

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

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: In Nigeria, a grim milestone, a glimmer of hope and renewed outrage two years after Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls.

[01:35:00]

VAUSE: We've been reporting on this newly obtained video, which could be proof of life, a sign that some of the girls may still be alive. Now Nima Elbagir brings us reaction now to the video in another exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the glimmer of hope parents have been waiting for. A video showing 15 of the Chibok girls sent to negotiators by their captors as proof of life.

CNN obtained the video from a person close to the negotiations to get the girls released and we shared it with parents of the missing girls.

But these young women in the video are only a handful of those girls abducted now two years ago. April 14th, 2014, 276 schoolgirls taken in the night by Boko Haram gunmen; a few dozen escaped.

But since then, there's been only silence.

Despite the global campaign to #BringBackOurGirls, two years later they remain missing. Facing heavy criticism, Nigeria's government remains under pressure to bring them home.

KASHIM SHELTIMA, GOVERNOR OF BONRO STATE, NIGERIA: I believe that the girls are alive, but probably based on security you cannot get them in one group. They might have been dispersed into several cells.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): In Nigeria's capital, supporters and families of the missing march to mark the solemn anniversary. Among the demonstrators, Esther Yakubu (ph), her daughter, Julianna (ph), was one of those kidnapped. Another news crew showed her our story. She broke down in tears, saying she recognized the girls.

ESTHER YAKUBU (PH), MOTHER OF ABDUCTED GIRL: I saw the girls. And they are the Chibok girls. I recognize some of them because we are in the same area. I recognize them. They're the Chibok girls.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): It's the first sighting of the girls in nearly two years. And after an agonizing wait, families of the missing hope the video is not yet another false lead.

SHELTIMA: We believe that these girls will be found and very soon, too, and be returned to their families.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Two long years and counting. For the families of these missing young women, their return can't come soon enough -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, Abuja.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: One of the founders of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign has been speaking with my colleague, Isha Sesay, and she told Isha she wants world leaders to do more to help find the girls and to show more concern for the welfare of women and girls around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: World leaders can not our fault to give occasional interest to these desires of the women and the girls to improve themselves. We must stay with these girls. We must stand with girls all over the world who seek to acquire knowledge.

We cannot continue to talk about girls' learning when the ones who fall into danger in the bid to learn get taken, get violated, get molested. We must stop. We must make the matters that (INAUDIBLE) abide in matters until we solve them with luck and moral integrity.

To be able to call for additional girls going to school, if we don't save and secure the lives of the ones that have tried. The best kind of advocacy for both girls to go to school is to show by our actions as world leaders that we have the back of every girl, whether in Europe or in America or in Chibok.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: There's been a lot of response to the plight of the missing

Nigerian girls, from all around the world, including on social media. Here's Isha again with that part of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISHA SESAY, CNN HOST: It's hard to believe the world is marking the second anniversary of the Chibok girls' abduction. As someone who has covered this story from the very beginning, I'm filled with a sense of profound disappointment and great sadness, especially after seeing that proof of life video uncovered by CNN.

The kidnapping of the hundreds of school girls gave birth to the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. It has been re-tweeted millions and millions of times since. One of the most widely spread social media campaigns of its kinds. Yet two years have gone by and the girls are still missing.

And on this grim anniversary, world leaders are once again expressing --

[01:40:00]

SESAY (voice-over): -- outrage and calling for the safe return of the Chibok girls. The U.S. State Department issued a statement and it reads in part, "The United States again calls for the immediate release without preconditions of all hostages held by Boko Haram. The kidnapping of these young women along with the kidnappings of countless others by Boko Haram epitomizes this terrorist groups depravity."

A statement also from the U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict.

The statement reads in part, "We cannot tolerate the abduction of children. We cannot forget the girls from Chibok. The children of Nigeria and the region deserve to grow up in peace. It is up to us to be their voice and give them back the life they deserve."

The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls is once again in the spotlight in support of getting the girls home and in frustration this tweet from the U.S. mission in Nigeria.

Ambassador Entwistle meets Oby Ezekwesili and the Bring Back our Girls group in Abuja, U.S. committed to the safe return of Chibok girls.

This from Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister, and his wife, Sarah Brown. "The Chibok girls are now a symbol of our apparent weakness to protect young lives."

Action Aid U.K., a non-profit organization tweeted this. "Until every girl is home safely, we must continue to call on the Nigerian government to bring back our girls."

You know, following CNN's discovery of that proof of life video, now more than ever, the world is looking to the Nigerian government and the international community to move beyond statements and actually bring these girls home where they belong -- Isha Sesay, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A short break now. But as Pope Francis gets ready to visit migrants in Greece, CNN takes you inside one of their camps. That story in a moment.

Also ahead, China releases new data on the health of its economy. Fly to Hong Kong to check the numbers in just a moment.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. China's economy is still growing but at its slowest rate in seven years. Beijing says the country's gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of this year. That's right in line with analysts' forecast, the slowest growth since 2009.

CNNMoney's Asia Pacific editor Andrew Stevens joins us now live from Hong Kong.

I guess you could call it the Goldilocks number.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Well, if you're a Chinese official, you probably would, John, because it's right between that 6.5-7 percent target growth that the Chinese have said the economy will grow at over the next year or so.

But it's interesting; it wasn't that long ago, John, when the world was watching with gasps as the Chinese economy, the stock market, the currency market appeared to be going into some sort of meltdown and it was affecting markets worldwide.

Fast forward a few months to these first quarter numbers and really this number is sort of going off with barely a murmur. And what it shows is that there is no hard landing.

The doomsayers about the Chinese economy a few months ago that things were about to fall out of control were wrong. What we're seeing here is an economy which has been slowing down, no doubt about it, but looks like it's starting to stabilize.

And if you dig around under the headline number you see some, I wouldn't say green shoots but some signs that retail sales are improving, factory production is improving, a few little things are happening, which suggests that this scenario of a free-falling China economy is going to be well off the mark.

The reason is because the Chinese government now has been propping things up. A lot of stimulus has gone into the economy. And at this stage, at least, it has broken that cycle of that sharp downward move and we're looking at a much more stable outlook, at least for a while.

VAUSE: Let me just pick up on a couple of very key words that you said as you got into your report there, Andrew. If you believe the numbers because this is what the government is saying. OK. So let's take a look at the numbers over the previous five quarters. These numbers have come in, 2014, Q4 at 7.2 percent, the next quarter 7 percent, the one after that 7 percent, 6.9 percent, 6.8 percent and now we have 6.7 percent.

This is an incredibly predictable, gentle rate of deceleration if you like. It looks a little bit too convenient for some people when you look at the wild fluctuations in the Chinese economy over the last 12 months.

STEVENS: I don't know what you're suggesting, John. You sound like you're suggesting these numbers may be manipulated, shock, horror.

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STEVENS: Well, we couldn't possibly say that here at CNN, of course. But we've talked about this for many years, about just how reliable these numbers are and the answer is that they don't probably represent what's really happening in the economy with a huge degree of accuracy, real accuracy.

I'll give you an example. An independent economic house put out a report this morning saying that the first two months of this year they thought growth was closer to 4.2 percent rather than 6.8 percent. Gives you an idea.

But my response to all this, john, is look what the government's doing, not what they're saying.

Are they taking panic measures to try and prop things up?

Are they doing whatever they can to stay in power?

If you look at what's going on in China, they are taking some action but they're not panicking at this stage. So look at what they do, not so much what they say.

VAUSE: Wise words. That is why you are CNNMoney's Asia Pacific editor.

Thank you, Andrew.

STEVENS: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Well, Pope Francis is heading to the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday to spend some time with migrants. That's where many of them land on their way to Northern Europe after fleeing Syria's bloody civil war.

Hala Gorani visited one camp, where their ordeal is far from over. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Omar (INAUDIBLE), the choice was simple: stay in Syria and die or flee. She chose life. And after months of running ended up here with her two daughters at the Kara Tepe camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Her husband and two sons, she tells us, fled Syria seven months earlier and are already in Germany.

"My husband says if it was up to me, I'd bring you here right away, but you have to wait for permission from European officials," she tells me.

"I'm not here for a handout, but I want to see my children. I haven't seen my 7-year-old son in seven months."

Her temporary home, a basic --

[01:50:00]

GORANI (voice-over): -- UNHCR prefab, no running water, no power.

(INAUDIBLE) family remains divided while she waits on her asylum application. She's told it could take months, a story that mirrors many at Kara Tepe, a camp designed to welcome the more vulnerable refugees, women and children or the badly injured.

GORANI: But it's a very different situation here at the other camp on the island called Moria. It is closed, it's very controlled, there's even riot police parked outside. We've even been told we're not allowed to film the front gates.

GORANI (voice-over): When asked why we didn't have access, officials wouldn't give us a reason.

Here, the walls surrounding the Moria camp have been freshly painted white in anticipation of Pope Francis' visit to Lesbos on Saturday.

Elsewhere on the island, gone are the scenes of mass exodus and desperation of just a few months ago. Now refugees remain confined to enclosed camps and the migrants and refugees who've managed to travel further are stuck at closed borders between Greece and Macedonia. For families in limbo here, waiting is now all they can do.

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VAUSE: They say love is blind and that appears to be true for one couple in the U.S. state of Montana. The lovebirds were so busy making out at a bar, they failed to notice an armed robbery an arm's length away.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There they were, kissing, caps backwards, blissfully unaware, as a woman and two male robbers walked into the Tap Inn brandishing guns.

Did that stop the lovebirds?

Nope, they kept on nuzzling as the bandits in bandanas emptied the register.

One of the robbers brushed right past them and finally you see the moment when it dawns on Don Juan that there's a robbery in progress. The bandit even steals what may be Loverboy's phone.

No one was hurt. The surveillance tape went viral as everyone tapped into the Tap Inn's kissing couple, which upset owner Bobbi Rhodes. He told the "Billings Gazette," "Nobody has bothered to ask, 'How is my bartender doing?' He's doing well."

"Love Is Blind," says the Internet; in this case, deaf and dumb as well. The only arms they noticed were around each other -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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VAUSE: And on that loving note, we'll leave it here. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. Natalie Allen picks up our live coverage from the CNN Center in Atlanta after a short break. You're watching CNN.