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Explosions At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; Trump Spoke After Meeting With Mexican President; CNN Goes Inside Syrian Town Freed From ISIS; E.U.: Apple Got Illegal Tax Deal From Ireland; Obama To Visit Hawaii Marine Sanctuary
Aired September 01, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN center. And we are following this breaking news out of Florida. There has
been an explosion out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Now, that's according to an Air Force spokesman.
And you can see smoke bellowing here from nearby cameras. No word yet if there are any injuries or what the cause of the explosion is. The military
launches rockets from this base. It's located near NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Well, joining us now from Houston is Leroy Chiao, he's former NASA astronaut. And just -- let's go right back to the beginning here, these
images, what do they tell you?
We don't see. Leroy, it's Robyn Curnow here at CNN center, do you hear me? We appear not to have connections with Leroy. Let's go our Miles O'Brien,
he's in Boston.
Miles, you have covered aerospace industry for many, many years what do these images tell you?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It tells me quite simply that there's been a catastrophic failure of the Falcon 9 on the launch pad. It was
scheduled for launch on Saturday. It was to carry a communication satellite into lower orbit. And today was to be, at about the time of this
explosion, was to be what they call a hot fire test, which means they light up the engines and test them on the launch pad without launching.
So, in the process of that hot fire test, apparently something really bad happened here on the launch pad. I should tell you that the safety
protocols for these sorts of events are extremely rigorous. It would be very, very absolutely almost inconceivable that there would be any human
beings in harm's way when this explosion occurred.
So, we can put that aside and not worry too much about that. It is a setback however, on the face of it, for SpaceX which little more than a
year ago of course had a bad failure as it trying to fly some supplies to the International Space Station. But generally the SpaceX Falcon 9 has
been a very successful and reliable rocket and space .
CURNOW: Tell us about this rocket.
O'BRIEN: Well, it's built by the Los Angeles-based SpaceX Company. At the helm is of course Elon Musk and they have been around for quite some time.
And more recently have engaged with NASA in a partnership to supply the International Space Station with goods and material and ultimately crews.
The rocket is built in Southern California, almost entirely, all the parts are built right there, right near Los Angeles International Airport. And
Elon Musk has sort of defied the conventional wisdom of the aerospace industry to build these reliable rockets which are taking cargo and
ultimately helps people to space at much less cost than NASA has been able to do in previous times.
CURNOW: Yeah on the SpaceX website, they very clearly say this is a rocket built entirely in the 21st century. T they say it makes history and that
it has a -- it is a two-stage rocket. What does that mean?
O'BRIEN: Well, basically, you know, as you fight your way from the pull of gravity here on earth, one of the key things is the weight or mass of the
rocket. And so, what rocket scientists do is they design it so you can throw away pieces of it as you get higher.
And so, as you imagine the rocket as it stands on the launch pad, its got a set of engines at the bottom. But there's another rocket that is inside
that stack. And as you get to a certain point and burn some fuel, you drop off that first stage.
And, so that's where you get the term two stages. It's a liquid oxygen and a highly refined kind of kerosene which fuels this particular rocket. And
of course famously, Elon Musk, in several attempts, has been able to return that first stage to a, in one case, to the Kennedy Space Center, to Cape
Canaveral area in Florida and also a floating platform in the ocean, proving that that first stage can be reusable.
CURNOW: Certainly a new type of rocket and certainly a new type of focus of getting people and stuff into space. Stay with us, Miles O'Brien. I
want to go to Leroy Chiao, he is a former NASA astronaut. Hopefully we -- there we go, we have you connected.
So, this is the first question I asked Miles O'Brien as well. As you look at these images of this bellowing smoke, what does it tell you?
LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONOUT: Well, obviously there's been some kind of a large explosion or fire. And as Miles was saying, this apparently
occurred during a hot fire test which is a normal thing that they do to check out the booster and the engines and the fuel system to make sure that
they're ready to go and launch. And they were going to launch a satellite this weekend. And so, obviously this is something we were just learning
about so we don't know the root cause yet but I'm confident there'll be a very thorough investigation and we will find the root cause.
CURNOW: And as Miles was saying, there's certainly a lot there that can light this off. I mean, this is a lot of ignition.
CHIAO: Sure. And any time you're going to launch something into space, you're going to -- into lower orbit, you're going to accelerate it to about
17,500 miles an hour. So you need a lot of fuel, a lot of energy, a lot of moving parts, turbo pumps, things like that. And so, you know, this kind
of thing, unfortunately, you know, there's always going to be some risk. And fortunately it happened during a static hot fire and not during the
actual mission itself.
CURNOW: Is it more risky in terms of the launch, these early phases of the launch or is it obviously more risky as the flight progresses? When is the
most dangerous phase of one of these rocket launches?
CHIAO: Well, the entire asset, you've got rocket engines firing and so there's always going to be the risk. You're always feeding fuel into
rocket engines, there's always a lot of fire. And so, really it's hard to say that one phase of the launch, you know, the lower part or the upper
part is going to be more risky. But, you know, the fact is that while you've got the engines running, there's always going to be some risks.
CURNOW: Leroy, standby, Miles also standby. I want to go to Chad Myers.
Chad, have a look at the weather here, do you think that played anything into what might have taken place on that launch pad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, we have a very large tropical storm Hermine in the Gulf of Mexico. That's not all that far
away. But I did have lightning turned on all morning because lightning tells us whether the hurricane is getting stronger or not a tropical storm.
And it was a not. There was not a lightning strike at all near this thing that we could find. Not one single static discharge here. But I know
you're looking at pictures here, the live pictures of the smoke coming out. You see the support towers. This is what it should look like. There
should be -- if there was a rocket standing there on 40 there should be a rocket there. And we don't see the rocket, it seems like there's only
essentially one answer to what happen here. And the two men prior to me just summed up a perfect scenario of what likely happened on this launch
pad.
CURNOW: And how much, you know, how many images in terms of satellite, how well cover is this? How well we'll we be able to see pictures as this
develops?
MYERS: Whether it's going to continue to burn? I'm not -- continue your question, I'm sorry.
CURNOW: In terms of what the images that we're seeing now, we're obviously getting these from Cape Canaveral in Florida, are we picking up any sort of
satellite images of what might have taken place?
MYERS: No, certainly not yet but what we do have actually is a radar picture. We're getting that to you, we'll get in just a few minutes. But
we have been able to look at the ground radar that should be picking up rain drops. It was so smoky, that the radar believed it was raining and it
was not raining, it was the smoke getting in the way of that radar beam sending that beam back to the radar location and the radar itself saying,
wow, look at that thunderstorm. It was not a thunderstorm, it was simply a plume of very thick acrid smoke.
CURNOW: Leroy Chiao, to you, are you concerned that there any personnel that might have been affected by this?
CHIAO: Well, of course it's always a concerned that someone was injured so that was my first thought. I hope there was nobody that was injured.
Since it was static fire, there should have been nobody around. So I'm hopeful that we'll find that nobody was injured. That's my hope.
CURNOW: And Miles O'Brien, SpaceX is certainly been a revolutionary company. It's certainly changing the way the business model and the way
many of these rockets are designed and manufactured. Just give us some sense of this rocket in particular, and also SpaceX's history.
O'BRIEN: Well, it's nothing less than, you know, a rethink about how the government and private enterprise does business. SpaceX is a private
company, you know, a standalone private enterprise that has a very viable and vibrant business in the commercial satellite enterprise. It became
known to a wider group of people as NASA in the (inaudible) was looking for ways to keep its space station supplied and ultimately get crews to and
from.
As stands right now, in the absence of the shuttle, NASA has only really one option to get human beings, to get U.S. astronauts to the space station
and that is to buy seats on a Russian Soyuz rockets.
And so Elon Musk, you know, really a bold and audacious endeavor said, you know, he can do it better and do it cheaper and has come up with this space
-- this Falcon 9 which has been an extremely successful rocket to date.
A little more than a year ago there was a failure on its way to the International Space Station. But this is an extremely hard thing to do.
Yeah, you're talking about the absolute limits of engineering and physics as we know it, when you talk about lifting a rocket from 0 to 17,500 miles
an hour in the course of about 8.5 minutes. And so we're talking about high pressure, high temperatures, cold temperatures, all happening at once.
And so, that is why you do tests, that's why you do a hot fire tests. There is some indication and it would be very likely that the payload, that
is to say the satellite, that the thing they're trying to deliver was not integrated, not on top of the rocket for the hot fire test this morning.
And so, ultimately that would mean that the potential losses for SpaceX would be diminished.
CURNOW: Chad, Miles, Leroy, thank you so much to all of you. We'll continue to monitor the story and these pictures throughout the coming
hour.
Well, you're watching CNN, I'm Robyn Curnow and much more news after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: Now to more tough talk from Donald Trump in a fiery speech on immigration in Arizona, he doubled down on his most controversial policies
and now his meeting with Mexico's President has turned into a war of words. For all the reaction, here's Sunlen Serfaty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There will be no amnesty.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump recommitting to a fired up no mercy stance on illegal immigration.
TRUMP: For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only, to return home and apply for re-
entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system.
SERFAYT: The billionaire vowing to swiftly expel millions who have overstayed their visas and undocumented criminals.
TRUMP: I am going to create a new special deportation task force focused on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal illegal
immigrants in America who have evaded justice just like Hillary Clinton has evaded justice, OK. Maybe they'll be able to deport her.
SERFATY: Insisting he will detain and remove anyone caught crossing the border.
TRUMP: We are going to end catch and release.
SERFATY: And force other countries to take back their citizens who have been ordered to leave the U.S.
TRUMP: There are at least 23 countries that refuse to take their people back after they've been ordered to leave the United States. Not going to
happen with me, folks. Not going to happen with me.
SERFATY: And declaring he will block funding from the 300 plus so called sanctuary cities across the country.
TRUMP: Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not received tax payer dollars.
SERFATY: But Trump is not saying how he would deport all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
TRUMP: Only the out-of-touch media elites think the biggest problem facing America is that there are 11 million illegal immigrants who don't have
legal status.
SERFATY: As for any one who wants to live and work here.
TRUMP: To choose immigrants based on merit, merit, skill and proficiency.
SERFARTY: Trump says they will be up against extreme vetting.
TRUMP: We are going to suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur. Another reform involves new screening
tests for all applicants that include an ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values and love
our people.
SERFATY: Trump also renewing his commitment to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
TRUMP: And Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for the wall.
SERFATY: Hours earlier, a more measured and softer tone on display as Trump met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
TRUMP: We did discuss the wall, we didn't discuss payment of the wall.
SERFATY: But after Trump left the country, President Pena Nieto disputes that, tweeting, "From the start of the conversation I made it clear, Mexico
will not pay for that wall."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Well, this Pena Nieto has since done more than just tweet about his position on the wall. After Trump's speech last night in Arizona, he
went on television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, MEXICO PRESIDENT (through translation): I was very clear. It didn't happen because, well, the pressure was kind of
disorganized in the end but I was very clear. And it is clearly registered that I was emphatic with him in the private meeting and the topics that I
pointed out in my message. I can say with all clarity and in public and that candidate Trump knows that I was emphatic to affirm that Mexico
wouldn't pay by any means for the wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Well, for more from reaction in Mexico, John Vause is in Mexico City.
So, is the president there, the Mexican President there calling Donald Trump a liar?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, not exactly, Robyn. There has been some clarification of the back and forth of who's, and what, and when,
and then what happened. So, we did hear from Donald Trump at the end of the news conference yesterday when he's asked by a reporter, you know, what
about the wall, did you bring it up? Are you going to make Mexico pay for the wall? And he said it wasn't discussed.
And then we had the, you know, the timeline of this tweet coming from the Mexican President. He said, yes, I did bring it up but Donald Trump did
not respond and so we've even heard from government officials here saying well, it was brought up but Donald Trump did not respond so there was no
discussion.
So it kind of to say technically, Donald Trump is right but it seems like it's kind of a whistly politicians trying to scorch to the fourth of July.
CURNOW: So let's talk about reaction then to all of this. What are Mexicans saying?
VAUSE: Well, you know, after that speech that Donald Trump gave last night in Phoenix, Arizona on immigration, a really hard line speech. Many
Mexicans here will tell you, well, that kind of proves everything that we thought was going on in the first place. That Donald Trump's visit here,
and all that diplomatic out reach to the Mexican President, well, that was all just a big stand up show, it's a P.R. stunt.
We know about Donald Trump trying to make himself look good, he make it look like a space man on the world stage. And believe me it didn't have a
lot to do with reaching out to Mexico key to repair the relationship here. And more to try and impress voters back in the United States and maybe a
little bit worried about what a President Donald Trump would look like on the international stage.
And there is anger here also for the Mexican President, not just for allowing this to happen but sending that invitation in the first place. So
this has been kind of a big political disaster for the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
CURNOW: John Vause in Mexico. Thanks so much.
Well, I want to turn now to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. Friday marks one year since the body of three-year-old Syrian boy washed
ashore in Turkey. This heart-breaking image of little Aylan Kurdi put a human face on the tragedy unfolding at sea.
One year later, people are still packing into rickety boats for Europe with many of the youngest caught up in the danger. Just this week, we saw a
newborn twins among thousands rescued in a single day. They were born prematurely at sea. One was said to be desperately ill, but we hear, he is
doing better in a hospital in Italy.
Well, I want to take a closer look at this crisis with our International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson.
It's one year since that devastating image of Aylan Kurdi, what's changed?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know it changed a lot of people's hearts and minds in Europe. I mean, it really made them
more sympathetic and realized just what people were sacrificing. And it became an iconic image. But the reality was it really didn't shift the
political needle too far.
You know, Angela Merkel in Germany criticizing her won country for actually having the most open door policy to migrants. There are hundreds of
thousands ending up in Germany, about a million migrants came from, you know, into Europe last year, just a little more than a million. This year
the number's fallen to about a quarter of that, just over a quarter of a million.
The reason was because Europe's politicians banded together and the E.U. created a deal with Turkey, that it would stop the migrants coming on that
route. But what's happened is migrants have continued to come from North Africa and it's a more dangerous route and that's why we're seeing this
year, we're seeing an increase, an effective increase by year's ending expected to 1.5 times multiply the number of dead migrants crossing.
So really this year what has changed actually was effectively seeing the number of Aylan Kurdi's and number of people, migrants, drowning. By the
end of the year it's expected to go up significantly.
CURNOW: And a lot of them are children.
ROBERTSON: A lot of them are children because they're the -- they are the weakest. When boats capsize and sink and the smugglers, you know, abandon
the ships and leave them on course, when other people can get in the border and swim a little ways, the children have a struggle and have the hardest
time. And family -- it's whole families, it's not just young fit men, it's whole families as we've seen and continue to see.
We saw this weekend, you know, just this past weekend coming to -- with this past week, close to 7,000 migrants were plucked from the seas per say.
It continues to happen, from North Africa in a way that the E.U.-Turkey deal has managed to stop the heavy flow coming from Turkey.
CURNOW: We talk about that E.U.-Turkey deal and in terms of what it did to the route and the access to Europe. But the Turks are coming out now and
saying that there's no deal without visa free travel. So what's the state of all of that?
ROBERTSON: Well, that was the deal that Turkey struck with the E.U. that they had $3 billion in support, in aid, to try and deal with the migrant
crisis. And they said, OK if you're going to make a deal with us stop the migrants -- because there was such that, if you remember, that heavy
traffic of migrants coming from Turkey into Greece, and then up to Europe, European southern eastern states, closing borders, et cetera. To stop
that, the deal was Turkey would accept repatriated refugees that would return from Greece. But they said they wanted another $3 billion more,
that make $6 billion total, that they wanted faster visa access for their citizens to Europe. And they wanted to speed up negotiations to join the
European Union.
Well, look what's happened, the reality of that, the political reality of that is not going to happen. So now Turkey is saying, if we don't get
those visas for our citizens to access Europe then that deal that we broke and made and have supported, it's not going to hold.
CURNOW: Yeah, the politics throughout all of this huge criticism that not enough is being done on that.
ROBERTSON: And the people and Aylan Kurdi's got forgotten in the politics.
CURNOW: Exactly. Nic Robertson, thanks so much for joining us here at the Idesk.
Well, Turkish forces are going through the Syrian city of Jarabulas clearing out booby traps left by ISIS. The terror group controlled the
city until last week.
Well, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh was the first western T.V. journalist to get inside Jarabulus since then. He joins us now live from across the border
in Gaziantep. Tell us about your trip there.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is remarkable potentially with this Turkey interventions Syria could spell.
Their first objective is to cut that border off for access to ISIS. Jarabulus was a key town to that and they allowed to use that to get fresh
spices and material into ISIS. Well that now seems to be cut off in the 90 kilometers stretch as in the Turkish military site.
Secondly, they're also clearly introducing Syrian rebels there who share Turkey's animosity towards the Syrian Kurds who have been a miraculous
ground troops in kicking ISIS out of territory in northern Syria too. And finally, and perhaps more complicatedly, this doesn't appear to be the
first time in a while we've seen stretches of northern Syria under the control of Turkey backed and comparatively moderate Sunni Syrian rebels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: We're headed inside yet another new chapter in Syria's endless war. Turkish officials wants us to see in Syrian rebel control of a Syrian
border town of Jarabulus that their military enabled. They kicked ISIS out of here a week ago, and we are the first western T.V. they let in.
ISIS had enough time here to remodel the town in their image, get into the minds of children, some of whom they're trying to recruit as soldiers.
"My neighbor blew himself up in a car," says this boy. Hamza (ph) says he's 13 and carries water for the rebels. He says some of his friends
became suicide bombers for ISIS.
"They tortured and beat people, everything here, it was just down there," he says. He shows us the square where ISIS gruesomely filmed their
murders.
It's a very strange game for these children to play with newcomers, showing us exactly where it was that ISIS would display the heads of those they
decapitated in punishment. But yet, again, another central square in yet another town, cleansed of ISIS' dark world.
Yet there another key building here, the recruitment center where they found a torn up ledger of names near the basement jail. They're showing us
further inside this building which is the first point people who have crossed in from Turkey to join ISIS would have sort to register with the
group.
No longer here can ISIS welcome outsiders into their twisted world. But other problems have arisen. As these men's fight isn't simply against ISIS
but it is also against America's allies against ISIS, the Syrian Kurds that Turkey insists terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through translation): We don't want to fight all the Kurds, just the Syrian Kurdish PKK. Just those who want to break up Syria.
WALSH: There is optimism here, early signs of a new project Turkey has undertaken to flood this area with moderate sympathetic rebels who will
then tackle the Kurds but also create a safe zone free of ISIS. Only the second half of that is what Washington has wanted.
To some degree, this is what American policy has yearned for, for years. Moderate Sunni Arab rebels here having cleaned the town out of ISIS
extremists, and now controlling what many have thought a kind of a buffer zone for Syrians fleeing the regime. Smiles, calm city streets, we've seen
them before in Syria's intractable war and watch them tour sour again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Now the scope potentially of this Syrian rebel incursion backed by the Kurdish military I should point out, it was clear the Turkish military
have evidence around there, we just didn't see them. The government were quite clear they wanted us to be mingling purely with Syrian rebels.
The scope of this potential incursion has maybe two more directions to it. One towards the west which might had to walk the ISIS stronghold, the town
of al-Bab near where Mohammad al-Adnani the spokesperson for ISIS, one of its most public voices was killed by an air strike just recently. But then
more controversially, off to the east towards the town of Manbij which is held by the Syrian Kurds but allied with the United States in fighting
ISIS.
Those are two directions Syrian rebels said they were most likely headed in. And state media is reporting significant Turkish army building up now
along the border but didn't quite know what their aims will be. But this is a new chapter of Turkey's involvement and one for Syrian war and one
like everything that happens in Syria, there's not going to be straightforward or entirely without controversy. Robyn?
CURNOW: Yeah indeed, thanks so much Nick Paton Walsh there.
You're watching CNN, much move after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: Welcome to the "International Desk," I'm Robyn Curnow. Here's a check of the headlines.
Thick black smoke is blowing above Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after an explosion at the SpaceX Launch Complex. SpaceX uses the facility to
launch its rockets. The company says a problem on the launch pad caused the explosion. SpaceX adds there were no injuries.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vows once again, there will be no amnesty for undocumented immigrants. And in it's much
anticipated policy speech last night he promised that Mexico will pay for his border wall even after Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says he
told Trump that is not going to happen.
Venezuelans are taking to the street against their government. Protesters are demanding a referendum on recalling President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela has been in a deep recession and suffering from severe shortages of food and other supplies.
And now to that massive tax bill that Apple doesn't want to pay. Apple's CEO Tim Cook calls it politically motivated. The E.U. says the tech giant
got an unfair deal from the Irish government and now Apple owes more than $14 billion in back taxes. This might though change the way Apple does
business in Europe. Cook now says now the company expects the south moving its profits back to the U.S.
Phil Black went to the town that believes Apple helped the island grow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Scrolling, shining and still growing, this is Apple's cork campus, a hub for almost 5,000 jobs, stretching between one
of the city's more deprived neighborhoods and some of Ireland's famous green pastures beyond. Our camera was invited in to see what Apple has
built here and what's still to come.
A new wing will soon rise above this earth, accommodating another 1,000 workers. We're allowed to see the grounds. We were not allowed to talk to
anyone about the E.U's order for Apple to pay 13 billion euros in taxes, it's said to have avoided through a deal with the Irish government. But
this too carries a not very subtle message, just like the image Apple released of its founder Steve Jobs visiting this company's original
operation on this site more than 35 years ago.
Apple's message, all of this has nothing to do with tax dodging, rather it's proved that Apple is committed to Ireland, that it's been here for
decades, investing, changing people's lives. And here in court, it is very hard to find people who disagree with that.
On the streets of the city, there is an overwhelming sense of defiance. Many here believe the E.U. has overstepped. And they credit Apple with
first transforming Cork and later helping the city recover from the dark days of the 2008 financial crisis.
UNIDENTFIIED MALE: Yeah. How are you guys, are you well?
BLACK: Pat O'Connell has been selling fishes since the 60s. He says many of his customers work for Apple.
PAT O'CONNELL, CORK BUSINESS OWNER: It's a phenomenal investment. It is now a huge part of Cork. Without Apple through this recession, I don't
think Cork would have survived as well as it did. I mean we have two things we're save, one was Apple, one was our pharmaceutical industry,
fourth, very much far, in direct investment.
BLACK: Lord Mayor Des Cahill tells me Apples investment also help to encourage many other multinationals to invest in the region.
DES CAHILL, LORD MAYOR OF CORK: Apple is such a strong bond, EMC is such a strong bond, Pfizer. We have a lot of top brands here, but certainly led
by Apple. Back in the 1980s, it went forth and trying not to shut down.
BLACK: You can't escape the view here that Ireland should fight the E.U. and not take Apple's billions because the tech giant already contributes
through creating wealth and jobs. But it's not a unanimous view. One of Ireland's key opposition party Sinn Fein says the E.U. ruling should not be
appealed. Instead, Sinn Fein says Ireland should take the money and put it to good use.
DONNCHADH O LAOGHAIRE, IRISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: There's no question that we can continue to be a place that companies such as Apple invest in and
have healthy taxation base and investment services.
BLACK: It's likely the E.U. ruling is just one step in a long legal process, as Ireland and Apple send their lawyers to court. They both deny
doing anything wrong and both fear the ultimate consequence will be reduced foreign investment in a country whose economy now depends on it.
Phil Black, CNN, Cork, Ireland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Well, still ahead, U.S. President Barack Obama is making a trip to this magnificent ocean paradise. Later today we'll tell you why the area
midway between two continents is getting global recognition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: U.S. President Barack Obama is set to visit what's now the world's largest protected marine sanctuary. It surrounds part of the state of
Hawaii where the president was born.
Mr. Obama arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday. He'll visit the wildlife refuge about eight hours from now. He just expanded the refuge last week,
quadrupling its size.
Now, the remote midway atoll is inside the lines of the sanctuary. It's described by some as a Garden of Eden because its islands are home to some
7,000 marine species, many of them not found anywhere else in the world.
The remote island wild life refuge is home to 20 species of birds native to Hawaii. One of the rarest marine mammals, the Hawaiian monk seal finds a
safe haven in midway's beaches and lagoons. And threatened green sea turtles are commonly spotted by divers. And the waters are teeming with
some 250 species of coral reef, fish and other marine life.
Well, I want to bring in David Guggenheim. He is a marine scientist and founder of the ocean group, Ocean Doctor, the conservation group. He's
with us now from Washington.
This was one broad stroke of an executive pen in the White House has protected a huge swathe of the ocean.
DAVID GUGGENHEIM: OCEAN DOCTOR FOUNDER: It's enormous. And bigger is actually better when it comes to this kind of protection. My focus has
always been on coral reef ecosystems and this is teeming with corals.
I've described corals as one of the most endangered animals on the planet and sadly we've lost about half of the world's coral reefs in the last 50
years. This kind of protection can really make a difference.
CURNOW: And we know, this -- it's a marine monument, essentially. We know that former President George W. Bush was actually the one who initially
expanded this protection. But interestingly, there seems to have been a lot of debate on this, particularly in Hawaii, people felt that perhaps
some of their fishing rights were being violated here.
GUGGENHEIM: Well, this is always a concern when you're creating protected areas. And the good news about the northwest Hawaiian Islands is that the
number of fishermen out there is relatively small. And it's always a balance.
But we always have to remember, fish are a public resource, they belong to all of us and they have important jobs to do in the ecosystem. And one of
those jobs is keeping coral reefs clean and keeping coral reef ecosystems functioning the way they should. They're not crops that we harvest.
They're part of that ecosystem. So, setting up no fishing areas is a very importantly tool in our tool bag to protect these amazing ecosystems.
CURNOW: And just paint a picture for us. I mean, we kind of described before we came to you of some of the extraordinary wildlife and corals
there. But I mean, there are black-footed albatrosses, spinner dolphins, just give us an understanding of what President Obama has done here?
GUGGENHEIM: Well, he's protecting all elements of this magnificent ecosystem at once by protecting the area. You know, we are still trying to
understand how these magnificent ecosystems works. They're fantastically complex. And he's protected everything from the deep sea corals, these
black corals that can live to be 4,000 years old, the oldest animals on the planet, right up to this albatross that soar in the skies.
And we know we're having lot of trouble with all of these creatures. And right in the middle is one of the cutest creatures you'd ever want to see,
basically a sea puppy, the Hawaiian Monk seal and its very endangered. It's a small seal. And they're used to be a Caribbean monk seal. And the
last ones were spotted, I believe, in the mid 20th century, and they've sadly gone extinct. So this is giving those guys a chance to recover.
CURNOW: David Guggenheim, thank you so much for your perspective. Appreciate it.
GUGGENHEIM: Thank you.
CURNOW: You're watching CNN. Moving on, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted an unusual gathering at the Kremlin. He was visited by nearly a
dozen students from the up market British Boys School, Eton. It was a rare privilege for these young men. Even the British Prime Minister and the
Foreign Secretary actually haven't been able to meet with Mr. Putin yet.
One of the students wrote on Facebook that the Russian President showed them his human face.
And finally, Donald Trump's red caps have been a staple on the campaign trail. They have Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan written on
them. But now his surrogates are wearing a whole different kind of cap and the grammar is vaguely questionable.
There you go, Rudy Giuliani wearing a cap saying "Make Mexico Great Again Also." He wore that cap during his trip to Mexico Wednesday.
Well, that does it for us here at the "International Desk." Thanks for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. "World Sport" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hello and welcome along to CNN "World Sport" live from London with me Christina Macfarlane.
In the past few hours, Swiss prosecutors have opened criminal proceedings against German football legend Franz Beckenbauer following allegations of
money laundering and corruption in the relation to the 2006 World Cup. Swiss prosecutors say their investigation spends on a joint financing of a
gala event where it's alleged that the $7.5 million cost was used to repay a debt that was denied by the German Football Association.
Swiss authorities carried out eight separate place in conjunction with the Austrian and German authorities earlier Thursday to gather evidence.
Beckenbauer, he led the organizing committee for Germany's successful bid to host the 2006 tournament, has denied any corruption allegations.
Well, after that, the European transfer window slammed shuts on Wednesday night after a flurry of late activity in the Premier League which set a new
spending record of $1.53 billion for the first time in a single transfer window.
The final few hours were our headlines about a stunning return to Chelsea by David Luiz, the Brazilian defender in the club sold to Paris Saint-
Germain just two years earlier for over $50 million. But perhaps the biggest drama of the day came courtesy of Tottenham's late swift for Moussa
Sissoko for whopping $39 million. The five-year deal announce less than 15 minutes before the U.K. deadline.
And Premier League champion Leicester City pulled off an impressive coup securing Sporting Lisbon player Islam Slimani to bolster their attack.
So, for yet another year, the English Premier League has dwarfed their spending of its European rivals. In fact, EPL Clubs spend more than $204
million on transfer deadline day with 13 of its clubs breaking their own transfer records in one window for a total spend of almost twice as much as
Italy's Serie A.
You can see here, behind them, there's the Bundesliga and La Liga on $604 and $548. And interestingly, England's second teir spent more there than
France's Ligue 1.
The championship, well, earlier former Football Super Agent Jon Smith and James Olley, Chief Football Correspondent for London Evening Standard join
me to talk about why the window has been so incredibly lucrative this year.
JAMES OLLEY, LONDON EVENING STANDARD CHIEF FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT: This window is going to be huge because of the influx of T.V. money. And they
got it early as well, so some clubs like Manchester United did a lot of their business earlier in the window than they might otherwise normally
have done.
And, but I think we've seen evaluations go up across Europe as a result of the Premier League clubs having this additional money to spend. So you
have leading European sides who don't really want to sell their assets, having English clubs coming to this and right.
Well, a player that might have been $13 million is now $20 million more than that, you know, or even higher. And Alexander Lacazzette is an
example where Arsenal were trying to get him all summer and he is valued at 60 million pounds. And you're talking about a player who didn't even make
France to score for Euro 2016.
So, this are the sort of evaluations that English clubs met time in time again. And that's why right at the end of window, suddenly these sides
were saying actually, we might want the money after all, so we'll drop our price.
MACFARLANE: Yes, jumping on boys, especially with the value of the pound at the moment, taking advantage of that.
Jon, with your agent's hat on, why do we see so many of these deals coming in so late in the day, so close, that those dear reportedly being done just
15 minutes before the transfer deadline close to in U.K.?
JON SMITH, FOOTBALL AGENT: Well there's nothing new. I mean, it happens at this, time and time again. There's a kind of jigsaw puzzle that opens
up in clubs. Very often people like West Ham do their deals early, this, the Manchester United did. And surprisingly, awesome move with the touches
of jack which I think is actually one of the best deals of this window. I think it's a twisted plan.
So, I think what happens is then the finances move. We have the euros in the middle of it. People took a breath of oxygen to see in case if anyone
popped up.
And then a bit of a scramble. It's an emotional game. As well as a business you see. So what happens then is that people look and they say
well, this left but that we got -- we thought it was great. Isn't that great because he's had two average games so let's go and buy another one.
So we do have a bit of a scramble at the end. And that people start moving so gaps open up and so it becomes a bit of a push and shove at the end.
MACFARLANE: OK. Day on the play -- on day four is about to get underway at Flushing Meadows in this next hour. First up on court, at the U.S. Open
for the women, will be Simona Halep against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. And former 2014 men's finalist Kei Nishikori will play Russia's
Karen Kachovanov. Both Serena Williams and Andy Murray up in action later tonight.
And Novak Djokovic got a little extra time to restore his mojo on Wednesday. However, after the world's number one reached the third round
of the U.S. Open without even swinging his racket, Czech opponent Jiri Versley had expected to the provider a tougher positions for Djokovic but
was forced to pull out ahead of the match after suffering a left forearm inflammation.
Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal witnessed something of a first during his second round showdown against Italy's Andreas Seppi, the closing of the new $150
million retractable roof for the first time over the Arthur Ashe Stadium midway through the second set there. But it didn't disrupt his flow, the
two-time champion gliding through the match taking it in straight set to set up a meeting with Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov in round three.
Well, still ahead, see how team USA is gearing up for another America's cup crown. And hear why Formula One star Felipe Massa says this year will be
his last.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Brazilian driver Felipe Massa has announced he will be retiring form Formula One at the end of the season. The 35-year-
old, who currently drives the Williams, has won 11 races in this cruise of Ferrari and finished over runner up to Lewis Hamilton back in 2008 in the
world championship. He also memorably survived a near fatal head injury at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009.
Now, he made the announcement a short while ago on Facebook, and Massa said it was time to do something different. But that his retirement wouldn't
dampen his results to compete in the final eight races of this season.
Now, team USA are continuing their quest to defend their America's Cup title by training and testing their systems relentlessly as we found out.
And we went behind the scenes and the boats of Bermuda to see how their preparation is coming along.
Here's Alex Thomas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. How come you're not shouting orders?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you have to drive the boat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's a number of reasons. One is while you're trying to type on the computer and do stuff, it really has someone's
driving really fast, you're going have over big waves and stuff. You have someone who's actually doing that work as well as driving, things are a lot
smoother.
ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As part of the chase crew, the performance team follows the race boats' every move, trying to figure out what's
working and what's not, where they can gain an edge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The '87 Cup or the '83 Cup, you take delivery of the boat. Sailing team would take it away pretty much and they just sail the
boat and develop it themselves. And nowadays, it's not like that at all. The boats are so technical and the systems are so complex that the
development of those systems is a hand in hand process.
THOMAS: Ian Burns leads the performance analysis team. A former sailor himself, it's his job to make sense of a constant stream of real-time data,
so the design team can fine-tune systems and build a better boat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a look and watch. I find a better worker and myself, we'll take turns and so we're taking the gathering from all the
boats and watching them trying to really design the experiments live as they're being done by the guys on the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It takes a long time. And occasionally, we have a revelation, you know, we'll do something that's a big jump in performance.
But that doesn't happen every day, but they're few and far between, there'll be a few during this campaign and they'll be significant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, to be honest is one of our lose (ph), in my opinion, in the meeting room between the sailing team and the design team,
there's maybe one or two exceptions that where the cup was won by a vastly superior design team or a vastly superior sailing team.
THOMAS: And addition to the performance analysis, the other main job of the chase team is the safety and supporter for sailors.
ALEX CHECKER, ORACLE TEAM USA RESCUE DRIVER: Try and teach the guys just in case they get frapped underwater or anything, just try to keep calm, let
them know where their equipment is, just in case they've got air as a backup so they could stay under and keep calm until help arrives. Have to
help for any situation of the water.
THOMAS: Have you had to jump in the water here yet?
CHECKER: Not yet, no. And let's hope it stays that way as well.
THOMAS: No matter the weather or where they are sailing, the chase boat crew is never far behind. From practice to race day, they're essential to
every team's sailing success.
UNIDENTFIIED MALE: It is a young man's sport. But, luckily, there's room there's room for few old sages around here, you know, maybe carry that
motivation onwards, but maybe needs a little bit of experience as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Wow, extraordinary scenes. OK. That's all for this edition of "World Sport." I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. Stay with us
because "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
