Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Back-Rebels Retake Manbij, Syria; Saudi Airstrikes Hit Two Schools in Northern Yemen, TEAM USA wins 1000th Olympic Gold Medal. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired August 14, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:15] ZAIN ASHER, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Zain Asher. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We do have some breaking news out of the U.S.

The mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is calling for calm after protests there turned violent. Crowds gathered Saturday night after police shot and killed an armed man during a foot chase. They were chasing him on foot. Police moved into disperse the protesters after one officer was hit by a brick that was thrown through the windshield of his squad card. Police then set several -- people, then, set several buildings on fire and actually threw rocks. And in the past hour we heard from the Milwaukee mayor about the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BARNETT, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN MAYOR: He was hit by two bullets, one in the chest, one in the arm. That individual is a 23-year-old man has died. The officer was wearing a body camera. It is my understanding that the body camera was operating.

Because it involved Milwaukee police and because an individual is killed, the investigation is being led by the state of Wisconsin. So, the state of Wisconsin will be the one that will have access to that film from the body camera and is the one that is now undergoing the investigation.

As you all know from what happened from that point, things deteriorated. When I left the scene, which was probably a little after 5:00, there was still calm at that scene. Later in the evening, as we all now know, things got out of hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The mayor says that three people have been arrested. We will continue to update you on the situation in Milwaukee over the coming hours.

All right, that is the latest from Wisconsin. For our viewers in the U.S., we go back to CNN original series "Declassified."

And for our international viewers, the news continues. Heavy rains and deadly flooding have put the U.S. state of Louisiana under the state of emergency for the next month. Three people have died and one person is reported missing. The state's capital city, Baton Rouge, has seen twice the amount of rainfall in 24 hours than it usually gets in the whole month

of August. Louisiana's governor calls the flooding a truly historic event.

Let's go straight now to our meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who joins us live now.

And Derek, some of the rescue -- some of the videos of these rescues we've seen are truly incredible.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's incredible. And hats off to the authorities and the volunteers who are rescuing the people and animals

that are impacted by these severe floods.

I'm going to show you a video now of a truck. The moment it got swept down the side of a river. Of course, this is a flash flooding event. We talk about this so often. In fact, the National Weather Service has a slogan, turn around, don't drown. You never want to try and attempt to cross any kind of flooded roadways, because you can see what happens. It only takes a half a meter of rushing water -- and here's proof -- to actually lift an entire vehicle, a semitruck even, and that is really just proof of that, because the water just by looking closely at that video, was no higher than the top of a tire there. So, half meter to a meter of rushing water can easily pick up an entire vehicle like that.

Here's a look at the rainfall totals. I mean, these are impressive, impressive amounts of rain, almost 680 millimeters of rain Brownfield, Louisiana. You can see the widespread precipitation. This is radar estimated rainfall totals since it began late Thursday.

In this part of the deep south in the United States is so prone to flooding, considering that New Orleans, for instance, is about two to three feet below sea level. So, this area has seen flooding in the past, but nothing like this. This is epic proportions.

And here is proof. This a river gauge, just to give you an indication of one of the rivers in Louisiana battling some of these flood waters. The record flood stage was at 30 feet. The current level was just shy of 33 feet. And a rapid rise in water taking place -- 25 feet in just 12 hours. That is called a flash flood. That is when we get that water overspilling the natural banks of the river system but in such a short period of time.

Take a look at this, the 911 call center -- here in the United States people call these centers to try and get assistance for evacuations, for instance, but these people actually had to move from the evacuation center because water started to rise in to that particular

building.

You can see the flood warnings across Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, just west of New Orleans, The other part of this story is that this rainfall is going to move towards the Ohio river valley and into the Mississippi river region, bringing flooding, or at least the flooding potential with it as well.

Something we'll monitor for days to come -- Zain.

ASHER: Yeah, that is important when those flash floods come, as you were saying to me earlier, you do have to get to higher ground right away. OK, Derek Van Dam, live for us, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

Michael Phelps finished his career a few hours ago the only way he knows how by winning gold. He earned his record 23rd, 23rd gold medal, as part of the American 4x100 meter medley relay team.

Earlier, British runner Mo Farah won the 10,000 meter, despite falling -- despite the fact that he fell -- he got knocked over during the race and he still won. Imagine that.

He's the first British track athlete to win three gold medals. And the latest from Rio we're joined now by World Sport's Kate Riley. So it was just so interesting watching Michael Phelps end his career on top like that.

What I witnessed on the podium there as he accepted his gold medal was really 20 years of hard work and dedication really paying off.

KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, really paying off and a credit to his family has well for being that one constant, that one constant support.

We have witnessed a once in a generation athlete, Zain, honestly. We are talking about the most decorated Olympian of all-time, going out in a fashion he only knows

how, by going and winning gold.

Of course, Great Britain, Team GB, they were winning the race and then Michael Phelps jumped in the pool for the third part of the relay and it was over for Team GB. But we'll be skirting over that.

And, yeah, so the U.S. victorious in the pool and what a swan song moment for Michael Phelps, honestly. The adjectives just keep on pouring in.

ASHER: I have never met him, but I'm so proud of him. I mean, it's just so inspiring.

RILEY: It's an incredible story. Team GB in second, though. They should be proud of that, too.

ASHER: Right.

Do you want to talk about British runner Mo Farah who got gold in the 10,000 meters. I mean, just explain to us what happened, because he actually fell. He fell, and I'm sure people thought it was over for him, but he still managed to continue jogging and sprint to that finish line.

RILEY: Yeah, well there was a tangle just around the halfway mark, and it was between him and his running mate, his practice partner, American Rupp. And, yeah, we saw Mo Farah go down sort of heart stopping moment there. We were really concerned. And just proof, Zain, that if you go down on the world's biggest stage, just dust yourself off and keep on going.

ASHER: It is a metaphor for life.

RILEY: Yeah, very much so. Farah becomes the first British track and field athlete to win three Olympic gold medals. It's a huge moment for him in the country.

ASHER: And of coruse tomorrow all eyes are going to be on the world's fastest man. I'm sure audience knows exactly who we're talking about. Usain Bolt. Is this going to be his third gold medal for the 100 meters do you think?

RILEY: Well, he's going for the triple-triple. And this happens in just a few hours time.

We are just so excited. This man not only holds the record for the 100 meters, but the 200 meters and the 4x100 relay as well.

Tomorrow, we'll see him in the semifinal heat of the 100 meters. And then some 90 minutes later, he's going to catch his breath and go for it in the final.

Yeah, what an athlete. We talk about Phelps and we describe him of being a one off and then look at this man on the track.

ASHER: There's just so many.

RILEY: Oh, it's wonderful.

ASHER: Also one breakout star as well in this time around is a woman I have never really heard of until these Olympics is Simone Manual. She is part of the U.S. -- the American swimming team, the women's swimming team. She is the first ever African-American woman to win gold in a swimming race. Aand today she actually won her second. Just talk us through that.

RILEY: Yeah, second gold. And this was a monumental moment for Team USA. This marks their 1,000th gold medal in the summer games, huge landmark for Team USA. And you can see the smiles, the jubilations there, yeah, arms in the air. Just a very proud moment for the country.

And of course, just moments later, Phelps and Co. went on to do their heroics and they take that tally to now to 1001.

RILEY: Gosh, you know, the Americans have done so well. It's just really incredible.

ASHER: Yeah, way out in front of the medal tally. What do they feed their athletes here in this country? OK, Kate Riley, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate that.

For more Rio action results and highlights, head to CNN.com/Olympics.

Going on to some other news that we are following. More than a dozen children are dead after two separate Saudi-led air strikes hit schools in northern Yemen. According to the Yemen health ministry, the first strike hit a private school in Saada Province, killing at least 10 children and wounding 28 others. The students were extremely young, only between the ages 8 and 15 years old.

Another airstrike struck a school nearby, killing four children and three adults there as well. Just heartbreaking.

UN-led peace talks came to a dead-end last week resulting in fierce clashes throughout Yemen that are still continuing.

People in the Syrian city of Manbij now have a slimmer sliver of hope that their lives will recover. Rebel fighters, backed by the U.S. have forced ISIS out. So, ISIS is gone from that city, and now the U.S. is really hoping to get their hands on key intelligence that's left behind by the terror group.

And Washington also wants to be able to use this city, Manbij, as a springboard, as a starting point to retake Raqqa, the de facto ISIS capital in Syria.

Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:20:58] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: With the fall of Manbij, ISIS has lost another important stronghold in Syria. The latest in a string of towns and cities in Iraq and Syria where ISIS's black banner has been torn down.

For the inhabitant of this Syrian town, it was a relief to be liberated by the U.S. supported Syrian democratic forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, inhabitants of the town enjoying relief from ISIS's draconian regime.

Some men took the opportunity to shave off their once mandatory beards. And men and also women had the opportunity to enjoy a smoke in public for the first time in years without fear of a lashing.

Some women took the opportunity to burn their head to toe niqabs, a stifling garment required by ISIS of all women who wanted to go out in public.

ISIS has now lost an important supply route between the Turkish border and its de facto capital of Raqqa. But this is just one battle won, the war against ISIS is still far from over.

ISIS still controls Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, and it still controls large tracts of northern Syria.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ASHER: Well, thank you so much for watching CNN newsroom. I'm Zain Asher. Marketplace Africa is up next. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKETPLACE AFRICA)