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Building Collapse in Kenya; U.S. and Russia Working to Restore Cessation of Hostilities; North Korea Sentences American to 10 Years Hard Labor; Race for the White House 2016; Royals and Obamas Take to Social Media. Aired 2-2:30a ET
Aired April 30, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hope amid the rubble as dozens of people are pulled alive from the debris of a building collapse in Kenya. We'll take you there live in a moment.
In the race for U.S. presidency, you can't please everyone and we'll examine why these two men are proving especially (INAUDIBLE).
Plus: something of a battle royal indeed; why the Windsors and the Obamas have started a tussle on Twitter. We'll tell you what that's about.
Hello, everyone. It's CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.
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ALLEN: Finding hope in a sea of devastation, that's how one Red Cross worker describes the scene of a building collapse in Nairobi, Kenya. The seven-story multi-family structure collapsed Friday in Nairobi, killing at least three people.
Search teams are now desperately trying to reach those feared buried in the rubble. But the Red Cross says they have been able to communicate with survivors.
Dozens have been rescued; among them, two babies and several children.
Look at that scene. The cause of the collapse is still unknown but heavy rains and floods in Kenya's capital may have played a role.
Arnolda Shiundu is with Kenya's Red Cross and joins me now on the phone from Nairobi.
And you told us earlier about there being definite signs of people alive that rescue teams have reached.
Can you elaborate on that?
ARNOLDA SHIUNDU, KENYA'S RED CROSS: Yes. Actually, and then after we spoke, we were able to get them -- get the two survivors out of the building. The two survivors were responsive. They were conscious. We were able to, when we got them out and put them in the ambulance, they were able to tell their names. They were able to tell us their apartment number and were able to tell us if there were any (INAUDIBLE) at the site of the collapse, who else was in the building or apartment with them.
And the two of them have already gone to hospital. As we speak, we have one more survivor, who, at any minute, we're going to get them out of the building. And Red Cross and St. John's (ph) emergency medical services on standby.
I think one of the patients is going to require oxygen because of course they've got all those on standby and (INAUDIBLE) like I said, any minute now we'll be able to pull out the third survivor in the last hour.
Thank you for that information, Arnolda (ph). And as you talk, we're seeing a man walking away with one of the babies pulled alive. There must be so much jubilancy there at the scene. There's a collapsed building, it's raining but still they're able to find people.
You've been to the scene, haven't you?
SHIUNDU: Sorry, just repeat the last -- the last (INAUDIBLE) again?
ALLEN: You've been to the scene; give us a little more insight into the rescue operation and the feeling among the rescue workers when they do find people alive.
SHIUNDU: You know these guys have been here since about 9:30 Friday night. And the ones we met (INAUDIBLE) this is a multiagency rescue mission. And we're always in this. Everyone here is working for the same goal, which is to get as many survivors out as possible. And (INAUDIBLE) push through, whenever we -- whenever we hear from one of the survivors.
And I can tell you, when we pulled the first survivor out about an hour ago, as soon as we put them in the ambulance, we all started clapping. And it was spontaneous but just the joy and the hope amongst all the devastation, when you look at that, at homes that have just in an instant being wiped away and then, you know, some of the surrounding buildings, people are packing up and leaving. You asked me to describe the scene, we've got rubble and we've got shoes and we've got cutlery on the floor.
And people are (INAUDIBLE) out there this morning and it's some daylight and you see people just packing up their bags and walking away, which is quite sad and you might be just walking away from your home, everything that you have known and been accustomed to for a long time.
But you know, at least there's hope. There's hope whenever we are able to get someone out.
There's hope, you know, we have more and more people coming to volunteer. We have the locals themselves (INAUDIBLE). In fact, they (INAUDIBLE) asking us, what can we do, let us help you. Let us help you --
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SHIUNDU: -- because (INAUDIBLE).
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ALLEN: Right. That's so nice, everyone pulling together. We thank you so much for your information and we hope you have more good news in the hours to come, Arnolda Shiundu with the Red Cross there in Kenya.
And, of course, as you can see, it continues to rain. The rainy season in Nairobi is currently at its peak while the flooding potential continues this weekend. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam has been following this and has more on why this building may have collapsed.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right, there's strong evidence that rain certainly was a factor at play here, considering that the building in question was right along a riverside and it is prone to flooding, especially when you get nearly a month's amount of rain in just a period of 48 hours to 72 hours.
So you can see some of the rescue efforts taking place here. But also notice on the front of the camera that there are still raindrops there ongoing. So the wet weather continues.
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VAN DAM: This is also interesting, too; we found out some information that the flooding that took place there caused traffic jams that delayed the rescue efforts at the collapsed building as well. So that just made matters worse for an already difficult situation.
ALLEN: Certainly see that. All right. Well, fingers crossed they find more people alive.
VAN DAM: I agree. Thank you.
ALLEN: Thank you, Derek.
The south of the building collapse in Nairobi National Park Kenya is about to start the largest burn of illegal wildlife products in history, as our second top story is from the same country because the president will light a match to a massive stockpile of ivory tusks and rhino horn.
It is a dramatic way of getting people to pay attention to a severe poaching crisis in Kenya. An elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its tusks. That picture right there gives you an idea of how many have died. CNN will cover the torching event beginning at 1:00 p.m., London. The U.S. and Russia say they have won agreement on a renewed cessation of hostilities for parts of Syria where there has been heavy fighting. But the truce does not include Syria's largest city, Aleppo. At least 230 people have been killed there in just the past week.
Nick Paton Walsh reports many of them died when airstrikes turned two medical facilities into rubble.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As disbelief still raged at how airstrikes could kill dozens at a hospital Thursday, it happened again. Another airstrike, one of 20 that hit rebel-held areas of Aleppo Friday, activists said, slammed into another medical facility.
It is fortunate but also chilling that these scenes of destruction don't have people in them.
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WALSH (voice-over): Because of the airstrikes, civilians here are said to be too scared to go to this and other hospitals. They have been, for days, says the manager of the MSF-backed hospital hit Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not only afraid to go to the hospitals, they're afraid to walk in the street. They are afraid to get targeted or to be targets or to be hit on the way to the hospitals.
WALSH (voice-over): He described the life of Dr. Waseem Maaz, the last pediatrician in Aleppo, one of six medical staff killed in Thursday's strike, seen here tending to patients. His devotion to his work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said if I get married, then I wouldn't be here in Aleppo for much time, that my wife will be in Turkey and I will have to spend half of my days in Turkey and the other half in Aleppo.
WALSH (voice-over): Children were his devotion and so often victims here.
This baby brought from the wreckage could have been one of Dr. Maaz's patients. (INAUDIBLE) here to find a tiny vein for an IV drip.
Instead, this scene haunted the day on which Dr. Maaz died, a boy left to tend the course of his younger brother, to beg if they could change places.
This passes for childhood here, has done for years, those born into the war who can only hope they may outlive it.
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ALLEN: That's very difficult to watch. So very sad. We are getting more details about the case of the American sentenced
Friday by North Korea to 10 years of hard labor. He is the second U.S. citizen to be prosecuted there in the past two months. Here is our Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His trial lasted one day. In Pyongyang that was enough to land American citizen, Kim Dong Chul, a 10-year sentence of hard labor. His alleged crime: spying for South Korea. He'd confessed to taking pictures of North Korean military secrets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I've fallen victim to South Korea and committed a terrible and indelible crime.
TODD (voice-over): South Korea's intelligence service denies involvement. It's unclear whether Kim's confession was made under duress. In court he wiped away tears just like another American Otto Warmbier did recently.
OTTO FREDERICK WARMBIER, AMERICAN DETAINED IN NORTH KOREA: Please save this poor innocent scapegoat.
TODD (voice-over): Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for allegedly pulling down a political banner in a Pyongyang hotel.
What signals is Kim Jong-un sending to the West by holding these two Americans?
KATHARINE MOON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: One, that they have a legal system that needs to be respected by foreigners. Two, that they have the power to detain. It's possible that he's reaching for some way to reach the United States.
But if that's the case, that is a weak signal because the U.S. is not necessarily going to respond in kind.
TODD: State Department officials call Kim Dong Chul's sentence troubling. They tell CNN they're taking this seriously but are otherwise being very tight-lipped about it.
Analysts say Kim Dong Chul, Otto Warmbier and other Westerners are given three meals a day, are held in much better conditions than North Korean prisoners and are kept entirely separate.
Why?
MOON: These Americans could leave and come home to the United States and describe the horrific conditions in the North Korean prisons and the North Korean regime does not want to have North Korean prisoners deal with, interact with Americans or westerners because they could get contaminated by the West.
TODD: This comes as tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain at a boil. Activists in South Korea have just floated balloons into North Korea full of propaganda against Kim Jong-un. Kim's nuclear and missile testing and his bloody purges of top officials have been relentless.
BALBINA HWANG, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Fear and terror are the instruments by which he can come into power and keep his power. He must pit all the elites against each other, make them feel insecure, essentially make them fearful of their lives in order to keep them in line.
TODD: And Kim is likely getting ready for more purges as he gears up for a massive show of his power, the Workers Party Congress in Pyongyang on May 6th. Analysts say at this event he'll likely continue his campaign of shifting more power away from the North Korean military and over to the Communist Party. North Korea's top generals are likely very nervous right now -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: In the U.S. presidential race, protests against Donald Trump in California are heating up.
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ALLEN: That's next.
Plus: rival candidate, Ted Cruz, is taking friendly fire with one prominent former colleague even calling him the devil. We'll have more from Republicans who really don't like Cruz. That's when we come back, please stay with us.
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ALLEN: To the hot U.S. presidential race, too hot, unfortunately, for the second day in a row; protests turned violent at a Donald Trump event.
On Friday, five people were arrested outside the California Republican Convention. California's is key to Trump's securing the Republican presidential nomination. But Indiana's primary next Tuesday is also very important and the anti-Trump campaigns are ramping up efforts there to defeat him. Here is CNN's Randi Kaye.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): If you don't want Donald Trump to win, your choice comes down to this: math.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Hoosier State, Donald Trump has a target on his back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Polls show Trump could even lose heavily Republican states like Mississippi and Utah.
KAYE (voice-over): Trump is the focus of at least three anti-Trump PACs, all trying to deny him a win in Indiana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump scammed students. He'll scam America, too.
KAYE (voice-over): The PACs are hitting voters with digital blasts on social media, direct mailers and television attack ads. This one is aimed at women voters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Bimbo."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Dog."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Fat pig."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Real quotes from Donald Trump about women.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "A person who is very flat-chested is very hard to be a 10."
KAYE (voice-over): It's an expensive gamble. Our Principles PAC is spending upwards of seven figures on its ad campaign. Another PAC, Club for Growth Action, is shelling out about $1.5 million for ads.
The strategy here in Indiana is similar to that used by anti-Trump groups in the Wisconsin primary and they say it worked there. Trump lost that state to Cruz.
But with Indiana being a winner-takes-most contest, these PACs are trying to slow Trump's delegate count just enough to force a contested convention.
Money well spent or too little too late?
As it stands now Trump needs 47 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination, compared to Cruz, who needs 132 percent, statistically impossible.
And Kasich, he needs 215 percent of the delegates remaining.
Even so, the Never Trump PAC still believes Trump can be stopped, despite the fact he's been winning delegates recently at a rate of 49 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't stop trying to make sure that the candidate that is at the top of the Republican ticket is somebody who will not only reflect the party but also support top ballot candidates in the fall.
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KAYE (voice-over): At Shapiro's Deli in Indianapolis, a frequent stop for presidential candidates, we showed voters the ads.
Do you think an ad like that has an impact on voters in making their decision?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I doubt it. I think the voters already made up their mind based on what they had seen or heard, who they're going to vote for.
KAYE: Too little too late, you mean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're asking me do I think Ted Cruz can overtake Trump, no, I don't think he can.
KAYE (voice-over): We showed this voter the ad aimed at women.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to treat them like (INAUDIBLE).
This is how Donald Trump talks about our mothers, our sisters, our daughters.
KAYE: Would it make you not want to vote for Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course it would. I don't want a president leading our country (INAUDIBLE) the world. We want (INAUDIBLE). And for him to say the things that he had said as far as women, it's just -- it's very (INAUDIBLE).
KAYE (voice-over): Meanwhile, Trump seems poised to take the heat -- Randi Kaye, CNN, Indianapolis.
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ALLEN: Ted Cruz is trailing Trump for the nomination but that's not his only problem. The Texas senator is taking lashings from members of his own party, with many saying he's unlikable.
Former House Speaker John Boehner went even further recently, describing Cruz as, quote, "Lucifer in the flesh."
CNN's Manu Raju has more.
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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former House Speaker John Boehner did not hold back his true feelings about Ted Cruz.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about Ted Cruz?
JOHN BOEHNER, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Lucifer in the flesh.
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BOEHNER: (INAUDIBLE) everybody. I have never worked with a more miserable son of a (INAUDIBLE) --
RAJU: Many Republicans on Capitol Hill are piling on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got the former Speaker, you know, basically calling him a miserable SOB. That's pretty harsh and I wouldn't have called him miserable.
And then you had the other issue, too, you know, where he, you know, he's said he's like -- calling him, "Lucifer in the flesh," I mean, somebody better contact Lucifer for comment because he's probably very upset about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe he gives Lucifer a bad name by comparing him to Ted Cruz.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: "Green Eggs and Ham."
RAJU (voice-over): After two years of bitter infighting, there's no love lost between members of Congress and Ted Cruz. Battles over raising the debt ceiling, leading the charge to defund ObamaCare, which caused a 16-day government shutdown and calling Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell a liar.
CRUZ: I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that he should apologize for those remarks he made about Mitch McConnell, calling him a liar on the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stood up and said he should. Yes, I think that was the wrong thing to do. It was contrary to the rules.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is what I tell everyone.
RAJU (voice-over): On the campaign trail Cruz hasn't held back, calling his Republican colleagues part of a corrupt Washington cartel. Cruz's allies say he's the only one who will stand up for conservatives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this helps Ted Cruz because it says what's wrong with Washington.
RAJU (voice-over): Privately Cruz has done some damage control, enlisting former Texas senator, Phil Graham, a long-time Washington insider, to help build relationships with the House and Senate leadership.
Yet even some of his allies think he should do more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Ted would be well served to reach out to his colleagues. I know he is to some. At the end of the day, the more support he gets from across the spectrum of the Republican Party, the more viable alternative he becomes to Trump.
RAJU (voice-over): Unpopularity has been something Cruz has struggled with even before his Washington days.
In his book, "A Time for Truth," Cruz writes that, as a kid, he had enough of being the unpopular nerd. Many Republicans now say Cruz's tactics are the reason for his unpopularity. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were called capitulators, surrenderers, we were told that we were impure, we didn't measure up, we weren't sufficiently resolute. That's not a way to make friends.
RAJU (voice-over): Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: We'll keep you posted on the ongoing presidential race.
A social media beef is afoot between the Obamas and the British royals. Details ahead on the light-hearted war of words and how Queen Elizabeth got roped in.
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ALLEN: The U.S. first family and the British royals are publicly feuding. But it's all for a good cause. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama tweeted a challenge to Prince Harry over the upcoming Invictus Games, a competition for injured veterans. The prince responded and recruited Her Majesty for some help. Here is Phil Black with the story.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a celebrity Twitter war like no other, the Obamas versus the royals, the White House versus Kensington Palace. Michelle and Barack Obama attacked first, posting on a video on Twitter Friday.
And Prince Harry returned fire with a video of his own, featuring what has to be his most powerful weapon: his grandmother.
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HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES: A message?
Oh, from Michelle. How very amusing.
Let us watch it together?
ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: Yes.
So look.
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: Remember when you told us to bring it at the Invictus Games?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Careful what you wish for. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boom.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: Really, please.
PRINCE HARRY: Boom.
BLACK (voice-over): "Boom, really, please," wouldn't normally be considered a winning verbal smackdown. But it carries a little more power when it comes from the queen. The Obamas and the royals spent quite a bit of time together in London recently and have clearly developed a rapport.
This is a good-natured attempt to develop a bit of friendly rivalry ahead of the upcoming Invictus Games, a sporting event for injured military veterans. It's a cause that Prince Harry is heavily involved in -- Phil Black, CNN, London.
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ALLEN: Great story there to end on, thanks for watching, I'm Natalie Allen. "WINNING POST" is coming up in a few moments, right after our headlines.
