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Cessation of Hostilities to take Effect Monday; World Leaders Condemn North Korea's Latest Provocation; Race for the White House; Dozens Rescued from Alps Cable Cars; U.S. Veteran Blinded by IED Swims in Rio Paralympics. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired September 10, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Russia and the U.S. announce a plan to pause the fighting in Syria despite a previous truce that fell apart earlier this year.

The insults get even uglier: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sling new jabs at each other as the election draws closer.

Plus: a war veteran aims for gold at the Paralympic Games after losing his sight on the battlefield. We'll have his story.

It's all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We've live in Atlanta. Thank you for watching. I'm Natalie Allen.

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ALLEN: There is new hope the bombs and the gunfire in Syria will stop at sundown on Monday. Following marathon talks in Geneva Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, announced a cease-fire deal for Syria.

Our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, has more details now on the peace plan for the country that has been torn apart by five years of war.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So key to the cessation of hostilities working, Secretary Kerry said, was for the United States to put pressure on the opposition to keep good on their obligations and for Russia, for their part, to keep Assad good on his obligations.

He said the United States assessment was that that's what Russia would do. This is how he put it.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Today the United States and Russia are announcing a plan which we hope will reduce violence, ease suffering and resume movement towards a negotiated peace and a political transition in Syria.

The Obama administration, the United States is going the extra mile here because we believe that Russia and my colleague have the capability to press the Assad regime to stop this conflict and to come to the table and make peace.

ROBERTSON: Another key point of this peace agreement, not just the cessation but humanitarian access. Secretary Kerry laying out in specific detail how that would take effect in Aleppo to give besieged areas there, up to 300,000 people living in besieged rebel-controlled parts of the city, give them much-needed humanitarian access. Also talked about the limits being put on the use of Assad's air

force, his barrel-bombing helicopters, to prevent civilian casualties, that Russia and the United States would work together to target Al- Nusra, the former al Qaeda ally inside Syria.

From the Russian perspective, Sergey Lavrov stressing that this seven- day test period of the humanitarian and cease-fire, would allow and he said this was important, would allow and must happen after seven days, a separation of what he described, terrorist opposition elements and non-terrorist opposition elements.

This is how he put it.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): After the regime is fully functional for seven continuous days, we, as John just said, ought to create a joint implementation center, JIC, where the military men and the special representatives from Russia and the U.S. will be engaged in solving practical matters of delimitation and separation of terrorists from the moderate opposition.

ROBERTSON: And that has been a key issue for Russia in the past. A bone of contention with the United States going on for months. Wanting the United States to say who was a terrorist and who wasn't a terrorist. Who should be targeted, who shouldn't be targeted.

A lot of mistrust there. That seems to be overcome at this time now. Lavrov saying and laying out how he had told the Assad regime, Bashar al-Assad, he said, has been told of this plan and his responsibilities.

Secretary Kerry thanking him for that. But, of course, what has troubled peace talks in the past is that key point when the political transition part comes up somewhere down the road, that's when the expectation is that Russia will tell President Bashar al-Assad that he will need to step aside.

That hasn't happened in the past. And at this stage it's not clear how that will happen this time going forward. A long way to go yet -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Geneva.

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ALLEN: Meantime, as for the war, Reuters News Agency says Syrian government forces have retaken a very important road in Aleppo. That road is in the southwest of the city, at the lower left in this map you see.

It is the same general area that rebels captured in August to end a month-long regime siege. But government forces have now effectively surrounded rebel-held areas again. That essentially prevents rebels from using a key --

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ALLEN: -- supply route in this horribly embattled city.

In Iraq, ISIS is claiming responsibility for an attack that killed at least 11 people. Two bombings targeted a shopping center in Baghdad Friday. The markets were busy preparing for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, which begins next week.

The terror group has been losing territory across Iraq. ISIS militants are relying on attacking areas that are not under their control.

At least 15 people are dead in Bangladesh after a boiler exploded inside a factory near Dhaka. Police say it happened around 6:00 am local time. There were employees inside the four-story building during the fire. Officers tell us they also sent about 50 workers to hospitals. They're investigating what caused the boiler to explode.

The U.N. Security Council is calling North Korea's nuclear test on Friday "a clear threat" to international peace and security. World leaders say it's another brazen provocation.

But Pyongyang says it is a big success, the strongest of the five nuclear tests the country has ever conducted. Friday's blast was estimated to be nearly twice as powerful as North Korea's last test that occurred in January of this year.

Our Paula Hancocks is joining us now from Seoul, South Korea. She's following developments.

And certainly, North Korea, the only ones celebrating what they've just done.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Natalie. And there seems to be an increasing concern around the world about what's happening with these nuclear tests.

Certainly we've seen Pyongyang saying that they have successfully tested a nuclear warhead and, as far as they're concerned, they can now mount that on to any ballistic missile that they have.

Now it's impossible for the outside world to even be able to verify that. But we've been consistently hearing from officials that it would be very dangerous not to take North Korea at its word.

Now we have seen that obviously there's more concern than usual because this is the second nuclear test in just one year for Pyongyang. As you've just mentioned, back in January was the nuclear test number four. Now North Korea is already referring to itself as a nuclear weapon

state. We heard them saying that they're going to reaffirm their foreign relations as befits their position as an independent power and a nuclear weapons state.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said that will not happen. That is not the way that Washington will ever accept them, saying that they are not and they never will be accepted as a nuclear power.

And certainly that's the opinion of politicians in Tokyo and in South Korea and in many other countries around the world as well. The United Nations' secretary-general saying that there is an urgent need to address this situation, the fact that it is accelerating so fast. And certainly the U.N. says that they have to do something about this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The members of the Security Council also recalled that they had previously expressed their determination to take further significant measures in the event of another nuclear test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures under Article 41 in a Security Council resolution.

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HANCOCKS: Now intelligence officials briefing lawmakers here on Friday said that they're concerned that North Korea is progressing far quicker than previously estimated -- Natalie.

ALLEN: It certainly is getting real. All right, Paula Hancocks, for us there in Seoul. Thank you, Paula.

Hillary Clinton is calling for more sanctions against North Korea and is pushing China to do more.

Donald Trump jumped on the chance to blame the nuclear test on his Democratic rival. That's from the campaign trail regarding the North Korea story.

On Friday, the Republican presidential candidate called the test "another massive failure" from the secretary of state. Trump also characterized Clinton in a way he once described his own impunity.

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TRUMP: Because she is being so protected, she could walk into this arena now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching right smack in the middle of the heart, and she wouldn't be prosecuted.

That's what's happened. That is what's happened to our country. I never thought I'd see the day when this is happening to our country.

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ALLEN: Clinton did not respond to any of Trump's comments about North Korea but at a fund-raiser in New York on Friday, she did go after some of his supporters.

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HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To be grossly generalistic --

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CLINTON: -- you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.

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CLINTON: The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.

That other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them.

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ALLEN: Both Clinton and Trump are making references to nuclear weapons. Clinton met with some foreign policy experts on Friday before holding a news conference that appeared staged to draw a stark contrast with Trump. Here is our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, with that.

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JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton is offering a full-throated condemnation of North Korea's latest nuclear weapons test.

CLINTON: We are not going to let anyone who is a treaty ally and partner of ours be threatened. And we are not going to let North Korea pursue a nuclear weapon with the ballistic missile capacity to deliver it to the United States territory. That is absolutely a bottom line.

JOHNS: Clinton's comments come as she meets with a bipartisan group of national security leaders, including top members of former President George W. Bush's administration looking to emphasize her commander-in-chief credentials as global threats are put front and center in the presidential campaign.

CLINTON: We won't always see eye-to-eye. But when it comes to questions of war, peace and the safety of our country, we can't let party affiliation stand between us. We need to put partisanship aside and work together for the good of all of us.

JOHNS: As the Trump campaign blames Clinton for the growth of North Korea's nuclear capabilities during her tenure as secretary of state...

TRUMP: It's just one more massive failure from a failed secretary of state.

JOHNS: ... the Clinton campaign is firing back that Trump is too cavalier when it comes to nuclear weapons.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has said, well, maybe more nations, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, maybe more should get nuclear weapons. That would be a disaster for the world. We're going to control nukes, not allow them to proliferate.

JOHNS: Clinton adding 15 retired generals and admirals to her growing list of military endorsements.

CLINTON: I now have more endorsements from retired flag officers that any Democrat, other than incumbent president, has ever had.

JOHNS: And the Clinton campaign releasing a new television ad.

CLINTON: We've got to bring people together. That's how you solve problems.

JOHNS: Airing in seven battleground states, touting Clinton as a unifier.

CLINTON: Donald Trump says he alone can fix the problems we face. Well, I don't believe that's how you get things done in our country.

JOHNS: But as Clinton continues to paint Trump in the worst possible light, some newly released photos adding intrigue into the nature of the relationship between the Clintons and the Trumps over the years.

These pictures released by the Clinton Presidential Library in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show former President Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as Trump's then-girlfriend and now wife Melania, socializing in New York in 2000, appearing to have a great time.

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ALLEN: Our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, with that report.

Russia's show of force in Crimea, was it a provocation or simply planned maneuvers, as the Russian military says?

We had a reporter there. That story is coming up.

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ALLEN: Russia is flexing its military muscle in Crimea and that has some people wondering if Friday's war games in the territory were Russia stirring up trouble or just being prepared. CNN's Frederik. Pleitgen was there.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Moscow putting on a huge show of force, war games from land, air and sea, in Crimea, the territory Russia annexed from Ukraine a little over two years ago.

(on camera): The Russians are sending a very clear message with these large-scale and top-flight military drills. Their forces are entrenched here in Crimea and they are ready to fight any time.

(voice-over): The maneuvers are called Kavkaz 2016 and take place not only in Crimea but in Russia's entire southern military district right on the border with Ukraine. The drills involve more than 12,000 soldiers, dozens of fighter jets flying mock dog-fight missions, strike aircraft hitting ground and sea targets and land forces in an amphibious assault.

Still, the defense ministry spokesman insists it is not a provocation.

"This is not at all a provocation," he says. "I want to stress that this is a planned event. We announced these drills last November. The troops have been preparing for a long time."

But they come at a time of heightened tensions with the U.S. and NATO over the annexation of Crimea and other issues. The Russian air force intercepted a U.S. P-8 Naval aircraft in the region just as the drills were getting under way. And only three weeks ago, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to smuggle operatives into Crimea for sabotage operations, a claim Kiev denies.

The Kavkaz military drills will likely cause more unease in Ukraine and eastern European NATO member states.

Russia's military chief of staff says the initial assessment is that they went smoothly.

"We need to fully analyze everything," he says. "But these drills were very beneficial to the southern military district and for the troops from other districts involved as well."

PLEITGEN: With Russia and the West at odds over Syria and Ukraine, Moscow is continuing to advance and refine its armed forces for all the world to see -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, at the Opuk military base in Crimea.

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ALLEN: The French Alps offer stunning views in some of Europe's highest peaks. But what was supposed to be a fun excursion turned into quite an ordeal for 33 cable car passengers trapped overnight. They were rescued Friday morning but spent a chilly evening in the mountains. Our Ben Wedeman is in Chamonix, France.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Visibly relieved to be back on the ground. It was supposed to be a beautiful day out at Western Europe's highest peak. But it turned into a nightmare.

Thirty-three people stuck in several cable cars overnight in the French Alps, suspended at over 12,000 feet. They were among 110 initially trapped after wires carrying the cars tangled in high winds. The experience left many shaken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You try to clear your mind as much as you can, but it's very difficult, very difficult. I had to close my eyes during a good amount of time to try to think about something else.

WEDEMAN: Rescuers raced against nightfall, using helicopters to evacuate as many as possible. When fog rolled in, they used rope to lower some riders to the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They tried to take us with a helicopter, but the fog came in. So the two rescuers stayed with us. And then we did a belay (ph) after we decided there was no other way to get down.

WEDEMAN: Those stuck overnight had to use blankets, water and cereal bars in survival kits found in each cabin.

As morning broke the final 33 people were freed after first responders managed to restart the cars. Now heading back, relieved it's over and that no one was hurt.

(on camera): French officials have already begun an investigation into this incident perhaps with an eye to make sure it never happens again. For those who were stuck all night in those --

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WEDEMAN: -- freezing cable cars, however, they probably never wanted to step foot in one again -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Chamonix, France.

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ALLEN: Oh, can just imagine, Derek Van Dam, oh, that gives me the heebee jeebies.

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ALLEN: I've been in that cable car before.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Tight spaces and lots of people.

ALLEN: Yes, and high up there. All right. Well, we're turning now to the United States and more of a natural phenomenon causing people headaches.

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ALLEN: A U.S. military veteran blinded in Afghanistan is going for Paralympic gold in Rio. How swimming helps him face his new reality in life. We'll have his story coming next for you.

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ALLEN: One Paralympic swimmer has a big challenge in the pool. He's blind. An IED blinded a U.S. military veteran but that's not stopping him from chasing his dreams. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his story.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brad had actually been a competitive swimmer all of his life. At the Naval Academy he had been captain of the swim team. The water was familiar --

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GUPTA (voice-over): -- territory for him. But how different would it be without his vision?

BRAD SNYDER, PARALYMPIAN: When I dove in I found this really cool sense of this freedom, this liberation from the burden of this new reality, right?

GUPTA (on camera): Was there a point you realized, look, I'm really pretty good at this and maybe this is something where I can go to the Paralympics?

SNYDER: People were talking about, you know, the world record is in reach and this and that and the other thing. And I said, guys, no, no, no, like, you guys don't understand. This is not -- you can't just happen into this. It takes years and years and years of dedication and hard work and mastering these different techniques that I am only just now learning, right? It would be impossible for this to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this man here, Bradley Snyder, dominated the morning heat.

GUPTA (voice-over): Against the odds, Brad did qualify for the London Paralympic Games in summer of 2012. He was scheduled to swim the finals of the 400-meter freestyle on September 7th, 2012, just a year after his injury.

Brad touched the wall far ahead of his competition. He had done it, won gold, exactly one year to the day after losing his eyesight in Afghanistan. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... had the race of his life.

SNYDER: I don't even believe it sometimes. It seems very surreal. And even the memories are very -- they seem like something that was put into a movie or something like that.

GUPTA: Brad left London with two gold medals and a silver. Since that time, his life has been a whirlwind. He's focusing full time on training for this year's games in Rio. And the athletic brand, Under Armor, based in Baltimore where Brad now lives, signed him to a sponsorship deal last year.

Watching Brad do this, you would never know he's blind. Typically blind swimmers are tapped with a pole by their coaches, indicating its time to make the turn at the wall. In practice, Brad doesn't use a tapper. Under Gizzy's (ph) watchful eye, he navigates using the lane ropes and by counting his strokes.

It's not a perfect method. He has crashed into the wall at least a few times. But the way Brad approaches it, swimming is a lot like life. It is what you do after you crash into the wall that matters.

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ALLEN: Good line there and a very nice story from Sanjay Gupta.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. "LIVING GOLF" is coming next and I'll be back with our top stories. You're watching CNN.

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