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White House Cancels Obama-Duterte Meeting; U.S. Election Campaign Takes Flight; U.S. And Russia At Impasse On Syria War; ISIS Behind Series Of Deadly Explosions In Syria; Trump Softens Rhetoric On Immigration; NFL Quarterback's Anthem Protest Sparks Controversy; U.S. Pledges $90 Million to Laos for Unexploded Bomb Removal; Zika Cases Surge in Singapore; Pilgrims Leave Holy Land with Tattoo. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired September 06, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:08] ISHA SESAY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. A head this hour, some less than presidential language from the leader of the Philippines. This was snubbed from his American counterpart. No rest for Trump and Clinton on the U.S. Labor Day holiday as they fly to key states along the U.S. election trail. And we'll take you to a Jerusalem tattoo parlor that's been leaving its mark on people for seven centuries. Hello, and warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

The White House is canceling President Barack Obama's meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. They were scheduled to meet in Laos during the ASEAN summit. But Mr. Duterte lashed out at Mr. Obama who plan to confront the Philippine leader over killing drug dealers without due process.

RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES: Who is he? I am a president of a sovereign state. And we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people. Nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements.

SESAY: Well, we just got a statement from the Philippine presidential spokesperson who says Mr. Duterte regrets that his comments came off as a personal attack. Before all of these, Mr. Obama said he was obligated to raise his concerns about Mr. Duterte's methods.

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Fighting narco trafficking is tough, but we will always assert the need to have due process and to engage in that fight against drugs in a way that's consistent with basic international norms. And so, undoubtedly, if and when we have a meeting, that this is something that's going to be brought up.

SESAY: Mr. Obama will be keeping busy even without that meeting. He is set to address the people of Laos a little over an hour from now. Athena Jones joins us now from the (INAUDIBLE) Laos. Athena, good to have you with us. Let's start with that cancelled meeting between President Obama and President Duterte. How much of a setback is this for the relationship between the two countries? [01:02:51] ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Isha. Well, I'm not certain that it's going to have any sort of long-term impact. The Philippine government in that statement that you just referenced said that there will be some meeting in the future agreed to at a future date. We don't know what date that is, but I've got to tell you this is not something that happens every day, this sort of diplomatic dust- up. And I think it's important just for our viewers to spell out more of what President Duterte said. He said he's not only - he's not a - he said I am not an American puppet, but then later on in Tagalog, the native language of Philippines, he called the president, "a son of a bitch." These are harsh, harsh words, and not the kind of words you often see at this level on the world stage.

And so, you know, the White House says all the time that the president does not shy away from talking about differences, talking about tough issues. So, when you're in China, that means human rights or cybersecurity. And he had planned to reference as you mentioned these some 2,000 extrajudicial killings of drug dealers and people involved in the drug trade in the Philippines, people killed without due process. This is something that the White House felt it was the president's responsibility to bring up. They also suggested he would touch on some of the President Duterte's past controversial remarks about women. At some point during his campaign, he had made jokes about rape. So, these are issues the president was prepared to raise, but you saw the President Duterte's strong response, strong words. And you heard from the president that was in a press conference before the White House had officially cancelled the meeting. But President Obama was hinting strongly that when he has a meeting with someone, he wants to make sure it's going to be productive.

The White House clearly decided that this is not the time to have a productive meeting with President Duterte. Instead, the president will be meeting with South Korea's president, President Park. Isha?

SESAY: We shall see if that meeting is actually ever rescheduled before President Obama leaves office. Moving on, President Obama, the first sitting president to set foot in Laos, a country heavily bombed by the U.S. during the Vietnam War with some horrific consequences. Will the U.S. President directly confront this legacy during the big speech he's set to deliver later today?

JONES: We do expect the president to talk about the legacy of the war or the bombing, I should say, of 2 million tons of explosives were dropped by the U.S. on Laos during the Vietnam War as part of what's been called a "secret war," because it wasn't declared. That has led to thousands and thousands of injuries. People being killed and maimed by these unexploded bombs. Some 30 percent of those - of those bombs were never exploded, they never detonated. And so, they are constantly being found by children, by farmers all across the country. So, the president is planning to announce $90 million over three years to help with the removal of these explosives. A part of that money - about half of that money is going to go to mapping out where all of these explosives may be all across the countryside and in villages using records provided by the Pentagon that says where they - where they dropped them. So, it's going to be a huge effort. The president said in China yesterday, "It was important to address these issues as a - as a part of a good-faith effort to build relations with this country." As you mentioned, it's a historic visit, the first sitting president to visit Laos. And so, it was important for the White House to address this important issue on this visit. Isha?

SESAY: Yeah. An important move for the president to be making such an important speech directly confronting the past. But how much excitement is there in Laos about President Obama being there? What's your sense?

JONES: Well, I haven't got a sense of the arrival on the street. We haven't been out to see the people arriving here, but we know that it's a big deal to have a sitting president come and visit - to come and visit a country. And it's been several years, several decades since the end of that war. We also expect in this speech, of course, the president to talk more broadly about U.S. policy toward the Asia- Pacific region. This is five years since the big announcement by the White House of a pivot, a so-called rebalance towards the Asia-Pacific region. So, we expect him to spell out some - what he sees as the successes and accomplishments of that change in policy, that shift in policy.

We also expect as part of his big speech to see - hear the president make a strong case for the Trans-Pacific partnership. That is the 12- nation trade deal that the U.S. sees as essential to securing its economic and security interests in the region. The president said yesterday, look, he doesn't have to make the case to the Asian nations that have signed on to the deal, but he does have to make the case to the U.S. congress, that bill is facing an uphill battle - or that deal is facing an uphill battle on Capitol Hill. Isha?

SESAY: It sure is. Athena Jones joining us there from Laos. Athena, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Now, the U.S. and Russia are trying to reach a deal to help bring peace to Syria. But the informal meeting between presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin didn't bring the kind of breakthrough many had hoped for. Our Fred Pleitgen takes a look at where things stand.

[01:08:07] FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After once again failing to come to an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria at the G20 summit in china, Russian President Vladimir Putin says, nonetheless, he is still optimistic that there could potentially be a deal between U.S. and Russia on this topic within the next coming days. Now U.S. President Barack Obama seemed a lot more sceptical for his part. He said that there are still trust issues between the two sides. But at a press availability after a 90-minute meeting with Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, nonetheless, said the two leader had understood each other's problems, but were willing to work to some sort of solution. Let's listen in to what he had to say.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It seems premature for me to talk about any details of our agreements on Syria. But I hope very much that in case the agreements are reached, and I have grounds to believe that they will be reached in the nearest few days, we can say that our joint work with the United States and fighting terrorist organizations including the ones in Syria would be significantly improved and intensified.

Russia's state-run TASS News Agency later reported that there could be a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov within the next coming days to try and hammer out some sort of deal. But there are still several sticking points that have been hampering the issue for a very long time.

On the one hand, the two sides can't really seem to agree on, if they do, do military action together, if they coordinate their military action in Syria, the kind of groups they would want to combat. Now, the Russians for their part are saying that a lot of the rebel groups in the - especially in the northwest of Syria are work with Islamist organizations like the one that used to be known as Jabhat al-Nusra which was affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Now, the U.S. for its part is saying that a lot of these groups are actually vetted by the United States, and in the past, have been helped by the United States, and therefore, the Russian shouldn't bomb these groups at all. So, there is still a big issue to try and determine which groups the two sides are going to combat. And then the U.S. still has a large problem with what they say is the amount of civilian casualties that Russia's air campaign in Syria is causing.

And then, of course, if there is a ceasefire, one of the big sticking points is also humanitarian access to Aleppo. Aleppo since Sunday, once again, is completely besieged by Syrian government forces. The Russians have said that they would be willing to secure humanitarian corridors into that town under certain circumstances. But at this point in time for the U.S., it's very difficult to see how exactly that can be done. So, the two sides have both said they want to keep negotiating on the issue, especially President Obama saying that, "With the suffering of the Syrian people, the way it is at this point, probably worse than it's ever been in the Syrian conflict, it is imperative for both sides to continue to try to reach some sort of agreement. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

SESAY: While the talks stall, the killing continues across Syria. ISIS is claiming responsibility for attacks in Damascus, Tartous, Homs and Hasakah. According to the TASS, killed at least 40 people, most died in Tartous where a car bomb exploded. A suicide bomber then attacked bystanders, and emergency workers responding to the first blast. ISIS has also claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed at least seven people in Baghdad. U.S. officials say 14 others are wounded. The attack targeted a gathering of Shiite Muslims in the Karrada neighborhood, that's the same area where a July attack killed nearly 300 people.

Away from Middle East now. And British airways says they are working as quickly as they can to fix a problem with the airline's check in system. The system failure is causing lengthy lines and delays at several airports. It's unclear how many flights have been affected or will be affected. Passengers say the airline told them the system failure had been going on for hours and was worldwide.

Time for a quick break now. Next on NEWSROOM L.A. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump shake things up. Find out what Trump is saying now about undocumented immigrants, and who Hillary Clinton is finally allowing on her campaign jet. Plus, deadly souvenirs of a long-ago conflict. Four decades after the end of the Vietnam War, Laotians continue to suffer from its legacy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:14:35] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: (INAUDIBLE) Pedram Javaheri with you. More tropical storm warnings still left in place across parts of the north-eastern U.S. About seven million people are still underneath. The same warnings that we saw yesterday, notice the storm system itself really hasn't moved much away from the coastline. In fact, it actually has closed in a just a little bit since the last 24 hours, and bringing some more cloud cover around parts of the northeast and some scattered showers as well for nearly the immediate coastal communities across this region, but not a tremendous heavy rainmaker in any sense. And (INAUDIBLE) meander over this region over the next 36 or so hours, and we think it'll finally begin to move away from this region and improve the conditions going in towards late week.

We get a little shot of fall beginning to come in. Some autumn temperatures around parts of, say, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Kansas City as we go in towards midweek there. Winnipeg will go with 19, Chicago still hanging on to summer heat at 33 degrees. New York City, again cloudy conditions in place, around 28 degrees across the city there. And watching the latest hurricane that has developed, this is Hurricane Newton. It is actually a strong Category 1, borderline Category 2. And models do indicate this will potentially get up to a Category 2 right before landfall around Cabo San Lucas in less than 12 or so hours. And as this storm comes in, of course, it could be really packing a significant punch when you're talking about a heavily populated place, and also an area with a lot of tourists this time of year, as the storm moves ashore. And it could potentially bring in heavy rainfall around the South-western U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:16:24] SESAY: U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump appears to be modifying his position on immigration, yet again. He is now suggesting that some of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. might have a pathway to legal status. CNN politics reporter Sara Murray has the details.

[01:16:42] SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Donald Trump is muddling his immigration stance even further today. Now saying a decision about granting legal status to undocumented immigrants will come sometime down the road.

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to make that decision into the future. OK? Good question. I'm glad you asked. That decision will be made.

MURRAY: As Trump and his team try to win over voters in the final 64- day stretch. They're trying to water down parts of last week's hard line "immigration speech."

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.

MURRAY: And give the candidate some wiggle room in dealing with undocumented immigrants.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Donald Trump as he expressed in one of his interviews recently, would find it very, very difficult to throw out a family that's been here for, you know, 15 years, and have 3 children, 2 of whom citizens, and that is not the kind of America he wants.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Once you turn off the jobs magnet - jobs and and benefit magnet, then we'll see where we are. And we don't know where we'll be. We don't know who will be left.

MURRAY: Today in the Battleground State of Ohio, Trump is also taking advantage of the Labor Day holiday to bring his economic argument to union leaders.

TRUMP: Ohio is having its jobs sucked out of it going to Mexico and other countries.

MURRAY: His day on the trail almost resembling a traditional politician. As he held a roundtable, popped by a local diner, and visited one of the largest fairs in the Buckeye State.

TRUMP: What an incredible group. Thank you, everybody.

MURRAY: All of this as Trump is betting his surest path to victory comes from hammering his democratic opponent.

TRUMP: She didn't have the energy to go to Louisiana, and she didn't have the energy to go to Mexico.

MURRAY: But Trump's best chance to take on Clinton is sure to come on the debate stage. Events the hard-to-pin-down candidate now says he wouldn't miss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can cause you to change your mind then?

TRUMP: Hurricanes, natural disaster. I expect to do all three of them. I think it's an important element of what we're doing. I think you have an obligation to do the debates.

MURRAY: Now, Donald Trump has played coy on a number of occasions about whether he would actually show up for all of those debates. Those comments are the most definitive we have from the GOP nominee, that he will be there ready to take the stage against Hillary Clinton. And in case he needed any indication that the candidates would be sprinting to the finish leading up to those debates, Trump will be hitting not one but two Battleground States on Tuesday, North Carolina and Virginia. Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

SESAY: Well, Hillary Clinton is shaking things up a little with Election Day just two months away, the democratic presidential candidate is now flying to campaign stops on a plane that is also carrying her campaign press corps. More now from CNN's senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar.

HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll come back to talk to you more formally but I want to welcome you on to the plane.

[01:19:43] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton's last two months on the campaign trail will finally be spent on a plane with room for reporters.

CLINTON: I've been just waiting for this moment.

KEILAR: After more than 16 months traveling separately from the press corps that follows her every move. Clinton is targeting the key State of Ohio, appearing at a Labor Day Festival with her running mate, Tim Kaine in Cleveland.

TRUMP: We need to make sure we have an election that validates the kind of positive future that will make life better for the people of Ohio. And empty promises and racist attacks won't do that.

KEILAR: Kaine in Pittsburgh earlier in the day with a little help from Pennsylvania-born Joe Biden as he accused Trump of being out of touch with the middle class.

JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT: Now, there's so many people like Trump who look at us like we're not their equal. I'm sick of it. I've had it up to here!

KEILAR: Clinton is consistently leading the polls in Pennsylvania, but her campaign is still focusing on the Keystone State, seeing it as a must-win for Trump. This Labor Day, Clinton and her big-named surrogates are blanketing blue collar strongholds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're looking nice, sir.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Thank you.

KEILAR: Bill Clinton at a parade in Detroit. Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire where he crushed Clinton in the Democratic Primary. Now, urging liberal democrats and his young supporters to choose his one- time adversary over Trump.

BERNIE SANDERS, UNITED STATES SENATOR: My dislike for Donald Trump is not just that he's pathological liar. It's a problem. It is not just that he changes his views virtually every day. The media tries to keep up with him, and it's very difficult what he has chosen to do is make the cornerstone of his campaign bigotry. KEILAR: But the simmering controversy over Clinton's e-mail practices while Secretary of State has boiled over yet again. The FBI releasing notes from their interview with Clinton that show she claimed 39 times she did not recall or did not remember key details about her use of a private server for official business. Clinton getting some back up from her vice presidential pick.

TIM KAINE, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There were e-mails that contained classified information that had been improperly marked. So when she received the e-mail, the material that was classified, which is supposed to be flagged and identified as classified, in many instances was improperly labeled.

SESAY: Well, what you didn't in Brianna's report was a pretty nasty coughing fit that Hillary Clinton endured while addressing the media.

CLINTON: I'll be right back.

SESAY: She laughed it off by telling reporters that every time she thinks of Donald Trump, it brings out her allergies.

All right. Moving on. Professional athletes are coming out in support of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe kneeled during the national anthem at a game Sunday. A show of solidarity with the San Francisco player. Kaepernick has recently refused to stand for the anthem. It's his way of protesting the treatment of African-Americans by police. Kaepernick is also getting support from the U.S. President. Barack Obama says the quarterback is exercising his constitutional right by not standing for the national anthem. I'm joined now once again, by our entertainment journalist, Segun Oduolowu. Segun, thank you for staying around.

[01:23:13] SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ACTOR, TELEVISION STUDIO ANALYST: Thank you for having me. It's always good to talk to you.

SESAY: So, the fact that Megan Rapinoe is now kneeling in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, and we've seen some other players do so in the last couple of days, will that blunt criticism Kaepernick is facing?

ODUOLOWU: I hope it doesn't blunt the criticism. I hope it wakes people up to - if you're going to critique him for what he did because you don't like it, that's your right as an American just like it's his right as an American, and Megan Rapinoe's right as an American, not to stand for the national anthem. But understand the reason behind it. Let's address the why. The police brutality against minorities, which was what he was trying to bring attention to, not the flag, not the armed services.

SESAY: Which he's being explicit that is not his focus and not his target.

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely. Let's focus on why, after decades of Muhammad Ali, the 1968 Olympics, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, why are athletes still feeling compelled to bring attention to the mistreatment of minorities in American society? That's the real message here, and it's a powerful one. SESAY: OK. So, there are a number of people who say they get the motivation. What they don't appreciate is the method.

ODUOLOWU: But what method would they appreciate? Those that say that - I mean, it's almost as if they say, "Well, we want our athletes to have an opinion and speak up against social issues, but you're a spoiled millionaire, go sit down with your basketball or your baseball or your football, and don't say anything." You can't cut it both ways, you can't eat your - you know, have your cake and eat it, too. You have to allow people to speak their minds on what they feel is a real issue here.

SESAY: And for them to choose the venue they choose to speak their mind in.

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely. I mean, it's his - it's his right. President Obama says it very beautifully.

SESAY: So, to that point, let's play what President Obama said.

OBAMA: My understanding, at least, is that he's exercising his constitutional right to make a statement. I think there's a long history of sports figures doing so. But I don't doubt his sincerity based on what I've heard. I think he cares about some real legitimate issues that have to be talked about.

SESAY: And to that point, it is a passage of time that change people's view of those sportsmen who took a stand. Muhammad Ali, the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

ODUOLOWU: Olympic, uh-huh.

SESAY: At the time, they were vilified, too.

ODUOLOWU: Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title, and there was prison. Tommie Smith and John Carlos were stripped of their medals and sent home from the Olympics.

SESAY: Uh-hmm.

ODUOLOWU: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in the NBA was fined and suspended for a game. And eventually, it wrecked his career. So, there are athletes that have done this before, and their treatment hasn't been good in the offing. What is really surprising is Colin Kaepernick's jersey is now the third highest selling jersey in the NFL.

SESAY: Interesting.

ODUOLOWU: So, I believe that with younger people that are a little bit more hip to what he's doing and why he's doing it, I think they're buying his jersey. I think the old guard that leapt onto the - it's patriotism and he's anti-American, I think all of that nonsense has finally cleared away, and they're seeing what exactly it is. And Colin Kaepernick, I think is going to be looked at heroically for taking a stance. You may not like the messenger, but you can't deny the reason for the message, and that's the sad thing. There's a reason for what he's doing.

SESAY: Yeah. Segun, always great to get your insights.

ODUOLOWU: Oh, thank you.

SESAY: Oh, you're much appreciated.

ODUOLOWU: Oh, it's my pleasure. John, don't come back. I'm taking your chair.

SESAY: He's running now. He's getting in the car to -

ODUOLOWU: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know John. Stay away.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now. Now, bombs stopped falling on Laos decades ago, but they still take a terrible toll. The hidden dangers and the painstaking efforts to root them out, when CNN NEWSROOM continues.

Plus, a sudden surge in Zika cases in Singapore is raising concerns in surrounding areas. We'll tell you how many people could be at risk. Just stay with us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[01:30:37] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The headlines this hour --

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: It has been more than 40 years since U.S. war planes stopped dropping bombs in Laos during the Vietnam War in what came be known as the Secret War. Although he conflict is long over, millions of unexploded bombs have continued to kill or maim people to this day. The White House has just announced a pledge of $90 million for Laos to help with the removal of the unexploded bombs.

CNN's Andrew Stevens witnessed the painstaking effort to rid the country of the deadly legacy.

A warning, some of the pictures in the report are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): Ya Yang wasn't born when the Secret War in Laos ended four decades ago but he carries its horrific legacy.

In 2008, life was good. He was 22, engaged, and had a job. Until an undetected bomb tore it all apart, exploding as he was burning trash.

"I don't remember anything until I woke up in hospital two weeks later," he says. "When I saw what had happened I didn't want to live any more."

Ya is one of an estimated 20,000 victims, many of them children, who have been killed or maimed by unexploded ordinance since the end of the war. For nine years, until 1973, the U.S. carpet-bombed Laos trying to stop a Communist insurgency and smash North Vietnamese supply lines.

It was known as the Secret War. No American boots on the ground, just American bombs. More than two million tons of them rained down. More explosives were dropped here than on any other country in history.

(SHOUTING)

(EXPLOSION)

STEVENS: And they're still exploding today.

This is a controlled detonation by the Mine's Advisory Group which works in Laos to clear the bombs a few square yards at a time. Every patch of land has to be mapped and swept.

Once detected, they zero in on the object and uncover it. And this is what they usually find, clustered munitions.

Up to 80 million of these failed to detonate and 1 percent have been cleared.

(on camera): How long realistically with the resources at the country's disposal is it going to take to make this country safe?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently with the resources, I'd say decades.

STEVENS: Decades?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

(EXPLOSION)

STEVENS: And that is one more explosive device taken out, but across these plains and valleys and mountains, there are still tens of millions of threats remaining.

(voice-over): Those threats are what worries Ya Yang man more than anything else, that his own children, born after the accident, could suffer the same fate that he did.

Andrew Stevens, CNN, Laos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Very distressing.

The number of confirmed Zika cases in Singapore has surged to 258 in one week. A new study shows that 2.6 billion people in Asia and Africa could be at risk of contracting the mosquito-borne virus.

CNN's Sherisse Pham joins us from Singapore with the latest.

Sherisse, good to have you with us.

Do we know why Zika has spread so suddenly in Singapore?

[01:35:25] SHERISSE PHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, where I'm standing will give you a bit of a clue as to one of the problems. The mosquito that carries the virus it loves urban areas and loves to feed on human beings and loves to breed in places like this.

This is a public housing development. There's a lot in Singapore. And like 80 percent of the population in Singapore, people here effectively live in high-rise blocks, and living in close proximity in these communal areas, when it rains it's an opportunity for water to accumulate and that's where the mosquitoes love to breed. There are teams making sure that doesn't happen.

But keeping the public educated is a part of the government effort against Zika. You will see lines like this, stay safe against the Zika Virus and #saynotoZika. The government told us earlier that they've been training thousands of volunteers to go out into the communities and educate people.

But partly because Singapore has had a really big problem with the mosquito. It carries dengue fever. They have the leading edge on the fight against Zika. They can use that research to fight Zika. But this is what is happening on the ground right now.

We are in an area -- this housing development is one of the clusters where the newest cases have sprung up. There is a team from the National Environment Agency getting ready right now. They have their equipment. They are going to be spraying insecticide to take the mosquitoes out so they can't breed further.

So while this is just one part of the fight, actually talking to the public is really important because that's where the real work is going to go on. That's inside these people's homes. So we're going the see in the coming weeks if there will be more cases springing up.

SESAY: We shall see. We hope not.

Sherrise, thanks. Appreciate the great reporting. Thank you so much.

Time for a quick break now. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have left the Holy Land with a souvenir that lasts forever. Up next, we will visit a tattoo parlor where designs have been passed down for centuries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:40:07] SESAY: Pilgrims travel to the Holy Land in search of many things and some leave with a permanent souvenir. For centuries, one family has given tattoos to visitors in Jerusalem's old city.

CNN's Ian Lee has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andrew got his first tattoo when he joined the U.S. Army. But this Armenian cross means the most to him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was seven meters from a rocket that blew up and I took the full blast. I believe I was protected and blessed by God.

LEE: Like pilgrims before him, he made one last stop before leaving the Holy Land.

For 700 years, pilgrims sought out the Razook (ph) family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our ancestors started the tradition of the tattoo and it was of course -- electricity was available, it was done by hand.

WASEEM RAZOOK (ph), OWNS TATTOO PARLOR: The Christian tattooing has always been a certificate of pilgrimage. And the only way for people to prove and get a certificate or a stamp, sort of a stamp that will last forever, if they have done the pilgrimage, is by getting tattooed.

LEE: The tattooing technique originated in Egypt and evolved over the centuries but the designs last through the ages.

WASEEM RAZOOK (ph): We are not only old school we are ancient school. We have designs hundreds of years old.

LEE: Waseem Razook (ph) shows me a design carved from wood blocks.

WASEEM RAZOOK (ph): This one is about 500 years old. This block was specifically used in 1669 to tattoo a pilgrim that has documented his pilgrimage.

LEE: Pilgrims travel to the Holy Land in search of something, adventure, inner peace, or God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was an emotional journey for me to renew my faith and this, for me, has become an external version of what I am now feeling inside. And I feel that I have a renewed and a new-found faith that I feel is more permanent.

LEE: The holy ink almost dried up. Waseem (ph) had no initial interest in the family business.

WASEEM RAZOOK (ph): This is not a tradition and a heritage that is easy to let go of. I'm not going to be the one who is going to stop it or kill it.

LEE: The mark of faith is secured for the next-generation as future pilgrims will seek out Waseem's son.

Ian Lee, CNN, in Jerusalem's Old City.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

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