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Super Typhoon skirts Tip of Southern Taiwan; Ceasefire Holds in Syria but Aid Shipments Stalled; Obama Levels Blistering Attack on Trump; Trump Unveils Details of Child Care Plan; Canadian Judge Faces Removal for Rape Case Comments; Tribunal for Plight of Displaced Women; Protestors Ambush Ryan Lochte Dancing Debut. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 14, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: The strongest storm of the year, super typhoon Meranti now pounding southern Taiwan.

VAUSE: Day two of Syria's ceasefire appears to be holding, but now the regime is delaying emergency aid for hundreds of thousands in desperate need.

SESAY: Plus President Obama replaces Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail and unloads on Donald Trump, while Trump goes full lion king with a baby.

VAUSE: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world -- that was a moment. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

The strongest storm on the planet this year is now skirting the southern tip of Taiwan. The powerful winds from super typhoon Meranti have reached more than 300 kilometers per hour. It's tied for the second strongest typhoon since 1970.

VAUSE: Meranti is forecast to reach mainland China Thursday morning local time. Flash floods and mud slides are among the biggest concerns.

SESAY: Storm chaser James Reynolds joins us now on the phone from Kenting in southern Taiwan. James -- good to have you with us. This is a monster storm. What are conditions like where you are right now?

JAMES REYNOLDS, STORM CHASER (via telephone): Yes, absolutely. A monster it certainly is. The worst of the storm hit us about two or three hours ago. Ferocious gusts of wind just ripping through the town I'm in -- torrential rain, flying debris, rooftops crashing down. Really, really powerful hit. But right now the storm is starting to move away. But it's still pretty full on outside; the winds are slowly starting to calm down a bit as it moves away slowly -- Isha.

SESAY: So James, you talk about structural damage, roofs being destroyed, flying off. Are you hearing about any casualties?

REYNOLDS: I'm still confined to the shelter I'm in really because it's still not safe to let you get out on to the streets and see what's going on. But as soon as I deem that it's safe to be able to, I'll be going out and having a look around to try and gauge how much damage there has been and to see the full impact of the storm.

SESAY: Yes. We were already hearing of reports of flooding long before things intensified in that short time frame you just mentioned. What are you hearing on that front?

REYNOLDS: Well, the problem is that southern Taiwan has a history of devastating flooding. The mountainous areas can cause flash floods, landslides with huge amounts of rain. Now what is (inaudible) warning about this storm is it's moving up the strait of Taiwan so it's going to be dumping lots of rain.

As I said, I'm still confined to my hotel because it's too dangerous to be outside. But hopefully later on I'll get more of a better idea on the flood situation.

SESAY: All right. Well, James, do stay safe. Appreciate you talking to us on the phone. We'll check in with you in a little while. Thanks -- James.

VAUSE: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now from the International Weather Center with more on the storm. And Pedram, the storm went from a category 1 to a category 5 in about 24 hours. How long before it starts to significantly lose some steam?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I don't see it significantly losing steam before landfall. It will weaken to the point of a category 3. So I guess, in a sense that is quite a bit of weakening, but it's still equivalent to a major hurricane.

So when you take a look at this on satellite presentation, it has weakened as it's lost some of its eye there as it moved over the tremendous mountain ranges that are central Taiwan mountains as the outer bands interact with that. But still, 285 kilometers per hour -- that's among the stronger storms you'll ever see on earth still.

And in fact, the storm system, the strongest on earth in three years, super storm Haiyan was the last that's strong with this magnitude strength. And also the strongest storm -- the second such storm since 1970, super storm Haiyan again, being the number one strongest that's been. Number two as far as the same wind. This at one point was at 305 kilometers per hour.

But again, you take a look at what we're looking at with this storm system. It has come in with winds now gusting upwards of 170 to 200 plus kilometers per hour right there across some of the islands and also southern tip of Taiwan. And climatologically you know the month of August into September this is when you begin to see the activity really flourish across this region.

But here is what we have in store with this storm system. We know the forecast will take it directly to the northwest. As it does, landfall around 5:00 a.m. is our best estimation at this point. So right before sunrise, somewhere in southern Fujian in the northern Guangdong area, equivalent to a category two, maybe a category three -- that would put the winds around 160 to 200 kilometers per hour.

[00:04:59] John and Isha -- we do know plenty of storms have gone through this region. But notice the southern tier of the continent of East Asia. I want to show you something here because the rarity of getting a tropical feature that strong here -- we've never had one that strong. Never had anything beyond a category 3 along a 200- kilometer stretch across this region of southern Fujian Province. So a lot of people are potentially seeing the first such storm in their lives here.

VAUSE: Batten down -- it isn't over yet. Pedram -- thank you.

SESAY: Yes. Stay safe everyone. Pedram -- appreciate it. Thank you.

VAUSE: Let's go to Syria now where the ceasefire there seems to be holding but aid shipments have been stalled. The United Nations is waiting for security guarantees from the Assad government before sending food, medicine, and other supplies into rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

SESAY: Aid trucks are crossing over from the border from Turkey. The U.N. special envoy says he expects the Syrian government will give authorization soon for the convoys to move into Aleppo.

VAUSE: The failure so far to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have been living in dire circumstances under a government siege seems to expose one of the major flaws in this ceasefire agreement.

For more on that, Andrew Taylor is with us now. He is a senior fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Andrew -- apart from the concerns that the aid groups have for their own safety, it seems right now that the Assad government holds the key when these supplies will be delivered and who actually gets them.

ANDREW TAYLOR, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: It's a very good question. So today there was an announcement that all aid had to go in through U.N. and regime-approved channels into places like Aleppo and elsewhere and that brings you into the crux of the matter that many in the opposition say the sieges of populated areas -- opposition areas in Syria are essentially instrumentalized so that the regime can drip out aid from international community to suit their purposes in exchange for essentially a surrender. And I think that's what the main concern of the opposition is in places like Aleppo and elsewhere.

VAUSE: If you want to do a positive reading on this, is this where Russia can now live up to its side of the deal, lean on the Assad government to let those trucks in?

TAYLOR: Sure, absolutely. The Russians can allow trucks in. They can set up checkpoints on the Costello Road (ph) going into Aleppo. There are lots of things that it can do but the question is in exchange for what. The deal is we see how the delivery of aid and access and humanitarian access goes for a week -- about seven days. And then after that we talk about targeting terrorists together.

But as a U.S. government spokesman said today, in the event of noncompliance, it can be rolled back. The catch, though, is that the U.S. apparently is standing in the way of the agreement being released, the full text. And now the Russians want it to be released. So it's hard to evaluate a plan and a strategy to bring us out of this civil war when the text is not readily available to the public.

VAUSE: I'll get to that in a moment. But very quickly, how can a deal be reached which leaves such a crucial decision up to the regime, essentially who gets aid, who doesn't get aid? This is the regime which has used chemical weapons on its own people, systematically targeted hospitals. How can it be now left in the hands of Assad to decide this question of humanitarian assistance?

TAYLOR: Yes. Very good question -- in exchange for what? The exchange is that the deal that the U.S. has signed with the Russians basically acquiesces to their position. That is that Assad stays indefinitely as part of a transition in Syria. And that is the incentive supposedly for Assad to comply. We'll see if he actually does. But the U.S. position has shifted significantly with this deal. The only question is whether the deal actually goes into play and allows that to happen.

VAUSE: You mentioned that the Americans don't want this deal to be made public. The Russians do. If it is made public, will we actually find out the definition of exactly what constitutes a violation?

TAYLOR: Yes, we will find out what constitutes a violation, but not most importantly, going forward, what areas is the modern opposition located and what areas are the extremists located, and where should everybody be -- that is part of what's call de-marbling which is policy term meaning to separate the mixed forces of al Qaeda from the moderate opposition. And this is what the United States is responsible for.

There are indications the U.S. is saying essentially, not officially, that it's not releasing the text because it's worried for tipping its hat to al Qaeda. But we'll have to wait and see if it's actually the case. It could be they're just trying to avoid criticism from those in the region, particularly those that back the opposition, and also from the Washington policy community.

VAUSE: If you look at everything surrounding the ceasefire deal, it seems very difficult to work out exactly, you know, what the terms are, how it's going to work, where we're going from here. It's been a good 24 hours. Even if we have a good week, do you see that there is some kind of political solution towards the end of this?

[00:10:09] TAYLOR: No, there isn't a political solution. There is a military solution and that is the Assad regime as the basis for a settlement in Syria. That's what has just been agreed. Now whether that will actually take place is another matter. But it will be a real bending of language to see how the U.S. and John Kerry in particular can get the idea of a transition in English to suit the fact that Assad is staying in power. And whereas I think previously we all thought that a transition would mean Assad would leave power.

VAUSE: So we're talking about a transition that could last indefinitely?

TAYLOR: A transition that would last indefinitely, Assad staying in power indefinitely. Because the Russian position is that Assad should stay in power indefinitely.

VAUSE: Andrew -- thank you for clarifying a lot of these points. It is very difficult to work through exactly how they expect this to end up. Obviously, the hope is that it will end up with an end to the fighting. But we'll see.

Andrew -- thanks for being with us.

TAYLOR: My pleasure.

SESAY: Well, doctors say Israel's Simon Peres will not undergo surgery at this time after suffering a stroke that put him in intensive care. They say the former Israeli president and prime minister is in serious but stable condition at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.

A statement from the hospital says the 93-year-old Peres is being monitored while sedated and is on a respirator. This is the latest health scare for the retired elder politician. Peres suffered a minor heart attack in January and underwent emergency surgery.

VAUSE: With Hillary Clinton calling in sick for another day, U.S. President Barack Obama took her place on the campaign trail with a blistering attack on Donald Trump. The President called out the Republican nominee for a lot of things -- his refusal to release his tax returns, his dark pessimistic vision of the country, and his so- called support for working class Americans.

SESAY: In response, the Trump campaign asked "Mr. Obama, shouldn't you be at work?" At a campaign appearance, Trump again slammed Clinton's remark that half his supporters are quote, "deplorables". He also outlined his child care tax break proposals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We need working mothers to be fairly compensated for their work and have access to affordable, quality child care for their kids. That's what we're doing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us now here in Los Angeles is Seema Mehta. She's a political writer for the "L.A. Times". Seema -- nice to see you. It's been awhile. Thank you for coming in.

SESAY: It's good to have you back.

VAUSE: Ok. This was a real departure from sort of Republican traditional policy by Donald Trump. Six weeks paid maternity, spending rebates for low-income families for child care, tax deductions for child care expense. And listen to some of the details from Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The first part of my child care plan allows for every parent or family in America, including adoptive parents, enforcer parent guardians to deduct their child care expenses from their income taxes. That's a first. They will fully be able to deduct the average cost of child care for their state from birth through the age of 13.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He was on his best behavior tonight maybe because Ivanka was standing behind him, possibly. But this does seem to be clearly a pitch to suburban women, right?

SEEMA MEHTA, L.A. TIMES: Absolutely. This is a group that he needs. Suburban women outside of Philadelphia where he was campaigning today, outside of places like Detroit, you know, the suburbs and rally -- these are people who have helped people like George W. Bush get over the line. And they have not fallen in line behind him.

So this is clearly a pitch to them. This is also clearly pitch shaped by his daughter. She spoke about it extensively at the Republican national convention and he made it clear that she had a really heavy hand in crafting this and urging him to do this.

SESAY: The question is, Seema, how much room is there still in this race, given the length of this campaign. Is there room to grow or people have pretty much decided their situations, their position, and that's that?

MEHTA: I mean I think the vast majority of Americans have made clear that they're on one side or the other. But the polls have really tightened. So in some of these battleground states if it comes to a very, very narrow margin on the electorate, these suburban women -- you call them soccer moms, you call them security moms in prior elections -- they could make a real difference.

VAUSE: It was interesting though. He didn't really outline how he would pay for any of this.

MEHTA: Right -- absolutely. VAUSE: Another economic speech coming on Thursday. In the audience

tonight a lot of women, a lot of mothers, a lot of kids -- and there was a crying child at another Donald Trump rally. But a kind of different Donald Trump. Listen to how he reacted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The money that is put into these accounts can also be spent not only on child care, but also child enrichment activities. See? We'll start with that child. That will be our first child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:15:04] VAUSE: But Uncle Donald wasn't finished there. After the rally, he did a rope line and he actually went up to that little boy and it was this moment.

SESAY: Your favorite moment.

VAUSE: It was a kind of cool moment. Look at this. Oh, up he goes. He looks terrified. And down he goes up he goes again. Down he goes, up again. That kid is about to puke.

But, you know, this is very different from the Donald Trump that we saw what, a month ago when he kicked a crying kid out of a campaign.

MEHTA: I think what is remarkable though, I mean if you look at the past couple weeks, he had this campaign reboot. He brought in all these new people. And everyone wondered how long would he be able to stick at it? How long would he be able to stay with the teleprompter to avoid insulting large groups of people, quite frankly?

VAUSE: And babies.

MEHTA: Yes.

But he really has. For the past three or four weeks, he's been pretty restrained for Donald Trump.

SESAY: So with that said, give us your perspective on how he is using this moment with Hillary Clinton off stage.

MEHTA: Right. Clearly she is off stage and he is taking full advantage of it. Not only is she offstage, her last major news before this pneumonia development was "the deplorables" comment which his campaign clearly believes that this is a moment that could make their campaign. And they're focusing on it so heavily because they believe that she tarred, you know, hardworking patriotic Americans, you know, soldiers and firefighters.

VAUSE: And President Obama tried to take on some of that today. He was out on the stump for Hillary Clinton. He also went after Donald Trump and his foundation, comparing Trump's foundation with the Clinton Foundation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself. He had the taste not to go for the ten-foot version but --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ok. And now comes word from the New York state attorney that they're actually investigating the Trump Foundation to see if any laws have been broken. The Trump campaign hitting back at the attorney general saying this about the AG, "He is a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years, has endorsed Hillary Clinton," which is true. Goes on to say "This is nothing more than another left wing hit job designed to distract from Hillary Clinton's disastrous week."

So far though we have allegations of the pay for play with the Trump Foundation, also the investigations of fraud at the Trump University -- but these allegations don't seem to stick to Donald Trump.

MEHTA: I wonder about this one in particular because all through the primaries he said yes, as a businessman I gave to whatever politician I could give to so they would take my calls, and they always take my calls. So this goes along with his whole message throughout the primary. So among his supporter, I don't think that this will make one bit of difference at all.

SESAY: Does it knock off course his argument about the Clinton Foundation?

MEHTA: I think we have yet to see that yet. But I mean the other thing is that the scale of the Clinton Foundation is so much larger. And I think there is a lot of unanswered questions about her time as secretary of state and the influence of foreign governments on the foundation and what kind of access, the sort of the nexus between these different groups. With his foundation, it's quite frankly it seems like a far simpler cut and dried case. But it also is such a smaller amount of money.

VAUSE: Ok. We'll talk to you again next hour. There is so much on the campaign trail to get through. Thanks -- Seema.

Ok. Well, hackers are behind an online leak of medical records belonging to U.S. Olympic athletes. Gymnasts Simone Biles and tennis player Venus Williams are among those whose data has been posted.

SESAY: The world anti-doping agency says cybercriminals in Russia broke into its database. These hackers have also been accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee's computer network. We'll have more on the story later in the show during "WORLD SPORT".

In the meantime a short break here.

When we come back, a judge in Canada has asked an alleged rape victim why she just couldn't keep her knees together. It has outraged many and now might just cost him his job.

SESAY: Also the skinny on sugar versus fat -- evidence that the sugar industry may have steered research away from the health risks of sweets.

You're in CNN NEWSROOM.

[00:18:55] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone.

We're keeping an eye on the strongest storm on the planet so far this year. Super typhoon Meranti has lost some of its strength but it is still hammering the southern tip of Taiwan with heavy rain and damaging winds.

VAUSE: More than a thousand people have been evacuated from the area so far. Meranti is expected to make landfall on mainland China early Thursday morning.

A judge in Canada might be kicked off the bench for asking an alleged rape victim why she couldn't, quote, "just keep her knees together". Judge Robin Camp is undergoing a week-long investigation of a case he oversaw in 2014. It involved a 19-year-old woman who said she was raped over a bathroom sink during a house party.

SESAY: During the trial, Camp asked her why she didn't quote, "skew her pelvis to avoid penetration". The judge has now apologized to the woman for what he calls is rude and insulting comments. He blamed his nonexistent knowledge of Canadian law. Camp was born in South Africa and said he wasn't trained on sex assault legislation in Canada.

VAUSE: Victims' rights attorney Lisa Bloom joins us now.

So Lisa here is some more remarks that Judge Camp made during that rape trial. "Young women want to have sex, particularly if they're drunk." Here is another one. "She knew she was drunk. Is not the onus on her to be more careful?" Another one here. "Some sex and pain sometimes go together. That's not necessarily a bad thing."

Is it not a fairly straight forward decision if he should be removed from the bench?

LISA BLOOM, VICTIMS' RIGHTS ATTORNEY: This judge is clearly unfit for the bench. And his defense "Well I just didn't know the criminal law in Canada," -- that means he was unfit. He never should have taken this case in the first place. He should not have been presiding over it.

As an attorney, I have an ethical obligation not to take cases that I'm not knowledgeable about. And if I do, I have to get up to speed very quickly.

I mean for a judge to do this is absolutely appalling. But I think it's worse than just not knowing the criminal law. He is really trafficking in every outdated stereotype about rape victims. And it's just absolutely appalling.

VAUSE: Not only he doesn't know the law and there's an element of incompetence here, he seems totally unaware of Canada's rape shield laws.

[00:25:01] BLOOM: Right. And just the general idea that women don't like to be raped, you know. All of his comments seemed to suggest that the accuser enjoyed it, that she liked it. Even if there was pain, that's just a natural part of sex. Ultimately, he tells the accused man who he acquitted that he should just be more gentle next time and the friends should be more gentle next time.

I mean, he has no understanding that rape is a crime of violence and a crime of power. And it's about as far removed from a consensual sexual experience as a crime can be.

VAUSE: Now you mentioned about the fact that he obviously has no idea about criminal law. But during this hearing, his defense has essentially been ignorance of the law. Section 19 of the Canadian criminal law, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse," -- there is a lot of irony here, surely.

BLOOM: Yes. For a judge -- for a judge to claim I was ignorant of the law, your job is to know the law and apply the law fairly. And if you don't know the law, then you need to get another job.

You know, this incident happened in 2014 where he made all these comments at this rape trial. And only now two years later is this all coming to light. I think it's really shocking that for the last two years he has continued to be on the bench after having made these comments, that there wasn't more of an uproar at the time.

VAUSE: Well, apparently the judge has also said that everyone was very much well aware of his lack of knowledge of criminal law. So how does a judge get promoted to the position that he is in now? He was actually promoted up to the federal court bench after this rape trial?

BLOOM: Well, you know, listen I talk about a lot of these cases on air, and I practice sexual assault cases in my law firm. And I have to tell you, we have a long way to go before we start taking this stuff seriously.

This obviously was not taken seriously in Canada in 2014. It's not taken seriously here in the U.S. We hear time and time again of cases of judges or lawyers or police making really outdated comments about women not understanding sexual assault. And this is just another example I think of how far we have to go.

VAUSE: Yes -- a long way yet.

Ok. Lisa -- thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.

BLOOM: Thank you for covering this.

VAUSE: Unbelievable. Anyway. SESAY: Let's take a quick break. Leaders from some of the most

dangerous countries for women want their voices heard. How they plan to do that -- just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:00] VAUSE: Hello, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.

The strongest storm of the year is now passing the southern tip of Taiwan. Super typhoon Meranti is forecast to make landfall in China, Thursday, morning. Winds have reached more than 300 kilometers per hour. Meranti is the second strongest typhoon on record since 1970.

Former Israeli President and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres is in intensive care after a significant stroke. Doctors say he is sedated and on a respirator, but they say he responded after his medication was decreased. His office is saying he will not need surgery.

SESAY: Children play in Aleppo on the first full day of the Syrian ceasefire. No major violations of the truce have been reported. Aid agencies still haven't been able to reach rebel-held, eastern Aleppo with food, fuel and medicine. They're waiting for authorization and security guarantees from the Syrian government.

Now a group of women leaders from South Asia say the voices of internally displaced women are too often ignored and must be heard.

VAUSE: The Women's Regional Network is launching a report on a South Asia tribunal on women's human rights. The goal is to seek justice for women and create a platform that transcends borders for their stories.

SESAY: Joining us now from Washington, D.C. is Rita Manchanda.

She is research director on the South Asia forum for human right.

Rita, thank you so much for being with us.

The Women's Regional Network is focused on strengthening women's rights in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. I know that a lot of women you're working with are internally displaced. Describe the everyday realities these women are dealing with.

RITA MANCHANDA, WOMEN'S REGIONAL NETWORK: Well, I think it's quite distinct that the Women's Regional Network works across conflict- affected borders, whether it's India and Pakistan, or Afghanistan and Pakistan.

These are countries that have known years of internal trouble, as well as interstate wars. And the women there have been facing militarization, extremism, issues of democracy deficits. Their whole citizenship itself is in question. Compound that with in fact the situation of displacement. Already a desperate situation of vulnerability, and then you have gender inequality on top of that in a region which has always been at the bottom for gender inequality -- for gender equality.

So in terms of the plight, the humanitarian plight of the women who have been displaced, and we're talking about millions and millions of women who have been displaced not just once, but multiple times. And over very, very long stretches.

I mean, there are women in informal settlements. They have been there for 25 years. And you have in fact no state policy that even recognizes that IDPs, or rather Internally Displaced Persons exist.

So Women's Regional Network is actually focusing on the forcibly displaced because we see that as in fact the face of the civilian in conflict.

SESAY: And so with that being said, in terms of the response to the very unique problems that women face, what does a tribunal on women's rights mean for advancing the status of these women in the region?

MANCHANDA: You know, we have been conducting community conversations in the various camp settlements, informal, as well as settlements. The government has set up just as they would for disaster relief.

It's the women who are saying that this is what we want. We want a public platform in which we can voice our concerns, give public testimony of the kind of violations of our human rights.

[00:35:00] For as they say, yes, we may be illiterate, yes, we may be poor, we may be in fact belonging to a disempowered minority. We are women. But surely we have the right to live. Surely we have the right to live with dignity.

And that public platform, which would provide them that public hearing, which would pinpoint accountability to our own governments as well as to the international community.

For the international community also is a party to the kind of destabilization, the kind of militarization that has occurred in this region.

SESAY: Rita Manchanda, we thank you for joining us just to give us a sense of the scope of the problem and WRN's efforts to deal with it.

Thank you so much.

MANCHANDA: Thank you very much.

SESAY: It's a big undertaking.

VAUSE: Yes, it is.

SESAY: Getting a tribunal that hosts three different countries. VAUSE: And we'll take a short break. When we come back, new details on that report. A scandal which goes back almost five decades. Did scientists meddle with the findings about sugar?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: We are tracking the strongest storm of the year as it passes the southern tip of Taiwan. Super typhoon Meranti has lost some of its strength. But flash floods and landslide are still major concern.

VAUSE: Flights are being canceled. And schools and offices are closed today. Meranti is now moving towards mainland China. Expected to make landfall there, Thursday morning, local time.

A new report out claims the sugar industry paid scientists to hide the health risks of sugar and promote saturated fat as a bigger danger.

The study says the evidence is found in historical documents dating back to the 1990s. In 1967, Harvard Review funded by the Sugar Research Foundation minimized the link between sugar and heart health, shaping dietary guidelines for decades.

The study is published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association."

VAUSE: Part of the allegations are that the scientists were paid in today dollars about $50,000 to come up with the findings that are paid for by the sugar association, which actually said, you know, that's how it was done back then. There could have been more transparency, although they're dismissing this report as having any real significance.

OK. Moving on here. Disgraced Olympian Ryan Lochte sought a fresh start by appearing on the U.S. TV show "Dancing with the Stars."

SESAY: He made his debut ironically to the song "Call Me Irresponsible." But this time, he was blameless for all the turmoil that ensued.

Here is our own Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're used to seeing Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte do the freestyle, not the fox trot.

There he was doing something he says he has never done when suddenly "Dancing with the Stars" became protesting one of them.

The two protesters who jumped on stage didn't touch anyone. Security immediately tackled one of them.

The show was live. This is all viewers saw.

[00:40:05] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me, hey, back off!

MOOS: One of the judges dishing out five, "excuse me" --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me.

MOOS: Before the show went to a commercial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll take a break.

MOOS: With Lochte wiping his brow, four more chanting protesters wearing anti-Lochte shirts were shooed away by dancer Derek Hough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! It's a good show, a positive show. Get out of here.

MOOS: The two Los Angeles men were charged with misdemeanor trespassing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lochte is a liar.

MOOS: The swimmer's over exaggerated story of getting robbed at gunpoint in Rio had revved up protester (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to emphasize that this is a bad decision to have a liar be publicized as a star.

MOOS: One jokester tweeted, "Did the Brazilian authorities just attempt to apprehend Lochte on live TV?"

The swimmer seemed to take the protest to heart.

RYAN LOCHTE, OLYMPIAN: I was really heartbroken. My heart just sunk. And it felt like someone just ripped it apart.

MOOS: Two demonstrators were released on a thousand dollars bail.

(on-camera): OK, OK, enough with the protest. But how did the swimmer dance?

(voice-over): The judges gave Lochte and his partner a so-so 24 out of a possible 40.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your limbs are not quite used to dry land yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the way, that is the most clothing Ryan Lochte has ever worn in competition.

MOOS: The song Lochte danced to --

("CALL ME IRRESPONSIBLE" PLAYING)

The swimmer danced like a fish out of water, watching the protesters get hooked.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

SESAY: His movement wasn't exactly fluid. VAUSE: I was going to say don't give up your day job, but then I remembered he is being suspended for ten months. But he's got a lot of time on his --

SESAY: He can work on his dancing. He can work in his dancing.

VAUSE: A lot of time.

SESAY: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next, and then we'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.