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Syria's Ceasefire Enters New Day Mostly Intact; Russian Hackers Target WADA; Donald Trump Outlines Childcare Plan; UK Inquiry Into British Invasion in Libya Points Finger at David Cameron; Super Typhoon Targets Taiwan; Despair for the Future in Zimbabwe. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 14, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: A dramatic improvement. Syria enters a new day with a cease-fire mostly intact. But where's the aid?

Olympians hacked. Russian cyber thieves released the confidential medical records of some top U.S. athletes. What they say they are trying to prove.

And on the attack. Barack Obama unloads on Donald Trump in his first solo campaign stop for Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: To be president you have to do your homework and you have to know what you're talking about. This is not reality TV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Hello and welcome to our viewers all across the globe. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN Newsroom.

It is a waiting game for hundreds of thousands of Syrians desperate for food, fuel, and medicine. The United Nations wants security guarantees from the Assad government before it sends humanitarian aid into eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels.

The trucks are stalled near the border with Turkey even though the fighting stopped on the first full day of the cease-fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAFFAN DE MISTURA, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA: But comparing the bottom line to previous days, there is no doubt a significant drop in violence. Of course this is only 24 hours. The 48 hours benchmark is going to be important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen joins us live now from Damascus. So, Fred, the good news is the cease-fire is holding on this second day. But the big question of course is when can the aid get through to those most in need and how long will it take the Assad government to give the U.N. security guarantees?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's actually really complicated, Rosemary. And certainly, one of the things that the U.N. is working on. They don't only need security guarantees from the Assad government. But they also need security guarantees from various rebel groups as they would try to make their way from Turkey or here from Damascus to places like Aleppo to deliver that aid.

Now, there are a lot of hurdles that are in the way for the United Nations and other aid groups to actually do that. First of all, the Assad government came out yesterday and said they would not allow any aid to be delivered to Aleppo, for instance, without the consent of the Syrian government and the United Nations, especially aid originating from Turkey.

And that if itself would make things very difficult. Of course, the Assad government would want to inspect a lot of these aid convoys and want to see exactly what's going in their various rebel groups and want to do the same thing.

And you know, I've covered some of these aid deliveries in the past, in places, for instance, like the besieged town of Madaya. And I've seen how long all that takes, how often those convoys are held up at checkpoints, how often various entities will say that permission letters are missing.

So, this is something that can take a very, very long time. It's a very difficult process for the United Nations. So, at this point in time not clear when they'll actually be able to deliver aid.

But, of course, they know that it's one of their main concerns because one of the main reasons why you have this cease-fire is because you had that horrible situation. You still have that horrible situation in those besieged areas of Aleppo and besieged areas in other towns as well like, for instance, Madaya or Deir Ezzor.

But a very, very complicated process that we can see the U.N. Envoy really trying to work through there and trying to make sure that that aid gets delivered as fast as possible, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Of course, such a fragile cease-fire. The hope is that it will hold in time for this aid to get through. So, how possible is it that this cease-fire unlike those that have come before it, could perhaps result that a long-term truce?

PLEITGEN: Well, the fact it's backed by both Russia and the United States indicates that it could be a cease-fire that could last for a longer period of time.

And you know, I was talking to some people here in Damascus just last night and they were telling me yes, they are somewhat optimistic that it could hold, and you can tell that by the mood here in the town. There's more people who are going out. There's more shops that are open even than before.

But at the same time of course people are very skeptical, Rosemary, because they have been in this situation before where there have been regional cease-fires in Syria and Damascus and Aleppo. There have been nationwide cease-fires that have held for a period of hours, maybe for a period of days, but then at some point fell apart again.

But the fact that the cease-fire appears to be part of a larger negotiation between the U.S. and Russia to then also combat groups like ISIS together if the cease-fire holds, that gives people some cause for optimism.

[03:04:59] But again, they'll want to see proof of that rather than believing at this point in time. Because as you know, Rosemary, this war's been going on for six years and many people here in this country on both sides of the equation have been disappointed many, many times.

CHURCH: Yes, and Fred, of course, you're there in Damascus in Syria. What are people quietly telling you as you talk to them in the streets, the average person there?

PLEITGEN: Yes. Well, look, you know, people here -- as I said, many of them have been disappointed in the past by the international negotiations that have been going on, not just about cease-fires for certain periods of time but about generally the general process to try and bring about some sort of political solution here in this country.

And you know, every time that you come here people try to cling on to any sort of hope. People tell you that they believe that for whatever reason the conflict might end in six months or might end in a year or might end in a matter of weeks, and so far those hopes have every single time been disappoint. And those things haven't come true.

So, people here of course know that this is a very complicated situation, that both sides, even though you have a cease-fire right now going on, both sides still very much dug in, both sides or all sides I should say not willing to give even an inch to the other side.

So, they know it is a very complicated situation and certainly not one where it appears to the people here a solution could be easy or could be forthcoming anytime soon. So they hope this fragile cease-fire could at least bring about a period of calm.

CHURCH: Yes. Very important. The United Nations of course, as you've been reporting, awaiting security guarantees there.

Our Fred Pleitgen, live from Damascus in Syria. Just after 10 o'clock in the morning. Many thanks to you, Fred.

Well, a U.K. inquiry into Britain's intervention in Libya is pointing the finger straight at former Prime Minister David Cameron. It says he failed to develop a sound policy. The foreign affairs committee found that the actions of his government were ill conceived and led to the rise of ISIS and Libya's political and economic collapse.

Britain and France spearheaded the international intervention in 2011. The aim was to protect civilians from forces loyal to then leader Moammar Gadhafi. But the inquiry found they made erroneous assumptions and had an incomplete understanding of Libya's situation.

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

More than 1,000 people have been evacuated in southern Taiwan. Seventy thousand homes are without power. Meranti is expected to make landfall on mainland China Thursday morning.

Now, storm chaser James Reynolds joins us now on the phone from Kenting in southern Taiwan. James, I know you're hunkered down in your home right now, but what are conditions like as we speak?

JAMES REYNOLDS, STORM CHASER: Hi, Rosemary. Well, the tail amidst the storm still are whipping through Kenting, the town I'm in at the moment. Strong winds, heavy rain. But it's not what it was like five, six hours ago when the core of the storm was passing very close to this area.

Blinding rain, flying debris -- excuse me, and just a very, very hazardous environment. So, while it's still pretty bad out there, the situation is improving as the storm moves away.

CHURCH: Well, that is good indeed. But Taiwan, of course, no stranger to these sorts of typhoons. How did people prepare for the arrival of the worst of this storm system?

REYNOLDS: Well, yes, it's a routine which they go through regularly every year. Taiwan is hit by strong typhoons. This region alone was hit in July by a very, very strong storm. So yes, it's a case of getting those people who live in the vulnerable mountainous areas away from dangerous river channels or areas which are prone to mudslides.

The authorities keep everyone off the beaches, keep the coastline sealed and really everyone just hungers down as soon as the winds pick up and the typhoon makes its presence felt.

CHURCH: Of course, you know, we always think of Taiwan as so vulnerable there. A small island. And people really exposed. But there is a very firm plan in place, isn't there for everyone, they know exactly what to do.

REYNOLDS: Yes, absolutely. And there's been a lot of investment in the infrastructure here. So, whilst there have been sporadic power outages it's not uncommon for those to be fixed very quickly compared to other countries.

The buildings are all very solid, made of solid building materials. The wind is not a major problem. It's normally the flooding, the landslides, which in the past have caused the most casualties.

[03:10:01] CHURCH: All right. Storm chaser James Reynolds joining us there from southern Taiwan on the phone. Many thanks to you. Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now in the studio to talk

more about this. So, good news certainly from what James is saying, but the worst appears to be over. China of course is in its path. So, what next? What -- who's going to likely get the worst of this?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, it's an area that actually has never been hit by a major typhoon. We're talking category 3 or stronger in extreme southern Fujian province.

And interesting, Rosemary, the CMA, which is the Chinese Meteorological Administration, they released a statement today saying something known as the autumn festival, they celebrate in parts of China this time of year, it begins this weekend and a lot of people are traveling and they're concerned that if people are on the roadways not potentially aware that this storm either missed Taiwan or as strong as it has been, it's something very serious that people could be caught off guard across that region of China.

So, we're going to show you exactly what we have in store with this storm system because yes, you can see the eye begin to fill in with -- that's a good sign it's weakening significantly as it moves closer to land.

Of course the mountains in the northern fringe of this have really begun pulling at the storm system and weakening it as well. So, some of the wind speed that we've seen on available sites there have taken it up there to 100 (TECHNICAL PROBLEM).

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... worrisome. There's no less concern here. As we wait for more updates. At this point he's being constantly monitored. There will be another full investigation, or rather a full examination later on this afternoon.

And barring any changes between now and then that will be our next big medical update on how former President Shimon Peres is doing here at the hospital.

You mentioned he's 93. I asked him the last time I interviewed him why don't you retire? At this time he was 91, about to be 92. And he said "why would I retire?"

[03:15:00] He still kept a busy schedule even after seven decades of life in public service. We spoke with his son-in-law. And his son-in- law spoke lovingly about his father-in-law. And here's what he said about Shimon Peres's endurance, his durability and how much he loved everything he did. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFI WALDEN, SHIMON PERES' SON-IN-LAW: Well, he's 93 but he's alert as possible. Just on the morning of his stroke he delivered a speech for one hour which was an extraordinary speech really, with great enthusiasm about all this (Inaudible).

So, he was in perfect intellectual condition. And there is great love for him all over the Israeli population. And we have endless people who are calling us and expressing their love to him and their hopes for his prompt recovery.

And obviously, we are very grateful to the people of Israel and we're grateful to the doctors for taking care of him so well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Incredible to hear that on the morning of the day he had a stroke he gave a one-hour speech. He also posted a Facebook video. Rosemary, that's a testament to how much Shimon Peres enjoyed what he did. Still some tense moments out here but we'll certainly keep you updated with the latest on Peres's condition.

CHURCH: We know you shall. Oren Liebermann keeping us updated there live from Tel Aviv. It is about 10.16 in the morning. Many thanks.

And Israel will receive about $38 billion in U.S. aid in a new 10-year deal. It's the largest pledge of military assistance in U.S. history. The agreement took a while to reach as relations have been strained between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The current $30 billion package expires in two years.

Well, the World's Anti-Doping watchdog says Russians are behind a cyber-attack on U.S. Olympians. Moscow's response, just ahead.

And with his own spin on the classic politician and baby moment. There it is. Donald Trump looks to win or try to win the female vote. His strategy, still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORTS)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, some American Olympians are defending themselves after they were victimized in a hack on the World Anti-Doping Agency. The watchdog group is blaming Russian cybercriminals.

CNN World Sport's Don Riddell reports.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS: Well, during the Olympic Games in Rio there was something of a cold war revival as tensions simmered between Russian and American swimmers in the pool. And of course many Russian athletes were banned completely from competing because of concerns about doping.

The games are over, of course, but now there's a new scandal. The World Anti-Doping Agency has today accused Russian hackers of breaking into their data base, stealing and then posting confidential medical data of some American athletes online. And they aren't just any old athletes.

We're talking about some of the biggest names in American sport. Taking responsibility for the attack is a group called Fancy Bears. And the hackers have claimed that these athletes have been doping. According to their web site, they quote, "regularly used illicit

strong drugs justified by certificates of approval for therapeutic use." It is a nightmare for the athletes caught up in this and who have now had their medical records published for the whole world to see.

The gymnastics sensation Simone Biles, who won four gold medals in Rio, responded on Twitter saying, "I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid. I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules, and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me."

The tennis star Venus Williams said, "I was disappointed to learn today that my private medical data has been compromised by hackers and published without my permission. I have followed the rules established under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program in applying for and being granted therapeutic use exemptions."

And the American basketball player Elena Delle Donne tweeted, "I'd like to thank the hackers for making the world aware that I legally take a prescription for a condition I've been diagnosed with which WADA granted me an extension for. Thanks, guys."

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is absolutely livid. Its CEO Travis Tygart said, quote, "In each of these situations the athlete has done everything right in adhering to the global rules for obtaining permission to use a needed medication."

Now, the Russian government has denied any involvement but whoever is behind it, this hack really isn't going to make it any easier for Russian sports or Russian athletes who've been ostracized during this doping crisis.

WADA's new director general Olivier Niggli said, "Let it be known that these criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russia."

I suspect we're going to hear much more on this in the coming days.

I'm Don Riddell. Back to you.

CHURCH: Thanks, Don. Well, let's go to CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance now for more on this story. He joins us live from Moscow. So, Matthew, Russia of course as we heard denying any involvement in this hacking incident. What all are authorities there saying about this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. I mean, that they've been consistently presented with these allegations that Russian-backed hacking groups connected allegedly with the Russian security services have been behind various acts.

This is the most recent example of the WADA servers. Of course, recently there was the hack attack on the Democratic National Committee as well in the United States, releasing eventually those embarrassing e-mails suggesting that the Democratic Party, there was a conspiracy there to get Hillary Clinton nominated as the -- as the candidate.

And all the time the Kremlin response to this, the Russian response to this, has been categorical denial. Their recent -- their most recent statement coming from Dmitry Peskov who's the spokesperson for Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, say that -- saying this, you know, we can say without hesitation that any involvement on the part official Moscow, the Russian government, is strictly out of the question. It is simply ruled out.

[03:25:11] And the reason the Kremlin can say this is that any real concrete evidence that anyone is able to point to that this is the work of the Russian security services. There's a good deal of circumstantial evidence, of course.

But in terms of concrete evidence it's written in the ground and it gives the Russians an element of deniability. And that's what they've been take advantage of with the previous episodes and now with this WADA episode as well.

CHURCH: Yes. Of course the problem, though, is that many are asking who benefits from a hacking like this. Who would be motivated to hack the World Anti-Doping Agency and publicize the private medical records of U.S. Olympians?

And that's what brings the spotlight back to Russia, isn't it? So, what will Russia likely do to try to prove it's not behind this hacking, or will it just leave it as things are?

CHANCE: I think they'll probably leave it as things are. I mean, that's what they've done in the past. They've issued their denial. There may be more denials in the days ahead, but they're not going to go to great lengths for the reasons I mentioned to try and disprove something for which there isn't any real concrete evidence.

I mean, you know, having said that, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence, and you touched on one of the issues there. The fact that, you know, the targets of these hacking groups, Fancy Bear in this case as it's been termed by researchers. There's another group as well which is believed to be rooted in Russia called Cozy Bear. And these bears have a number of things in common.

Firstly, they use very expensive electronic tools. This is not just some kid sitting at a computer. They're using state-of-the-art technology which implies that it's state backed. The other issue is that they're looking for political information. Politically sensitive details from various servers.

They're not looking for economic information. They're not trying to empty your bank account. And the really compelling bit of circumstantial evidence is that, you know, the targets they choose are broadly aligned with the Russian political agenda and the WADA attack is a great example of that.

Because recently, as Don Riddell was mentioning, Russian track and field athletes were banned from the Olympic Games in Rio. The entire Paralympic team was banned as well because of allegations of state- sponsored doping.

And so, these latest releases of these American athletes and their medical records clearly looks like an attempt to highlight what Fancy Bears would say I expect is hypocrisy in the -- in the global athletic community. These athletes have taken banned substances and got away with it. Russian athletes were banned from the games. And so, it broadly fits into the Russian political agenda.

CHURCH: All right. Our Matthew Chance are bringing us reaction from Moscow, Russia. It is 10.27 in the morning there. Many thanks to you, Matthew. I appreciate it.

We'll take a very short break here. But still to come, campaigner-in- chief goes solo on the campaign trail. How the president hammered Donald Trump's bid for the White House.

And inside the growing protests against Robert Mugabe's rule. Exclusive reporting you will not see anywhere else. We're back in a moment.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: One candidate who's traveled to more countries than any secretary of state ever has, has more qualifications than pretty much anyone who's ever run for this job. And the other who isn't fit in any way, shape, or form to represent this country abroad and be its commander-in-chief.

Think about what's happened to the Republican Party. Right? They used to be opposed to Russia and authoritarianism and fighting for freedom and fighting for democracy. And now their nominee is out there praising a guy, saying he's a strong leader because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents, controls the press and drives his economy into a long recession.

Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered as disqualifying for being president.

[03:35:01] And yet, because he says it over and over and over again the press just gives up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, with his daughter at his side Tuesday, Trump outlined his proposals for child and elder care tax credits. He underscored his support for working mothers with a rather enthusiastic politician and baby moment at the Pennsylvania rally.

Sara Murray has the details of his family leave plan.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Donald Trump traveled here to the suburbs of Philadelphia to make his case to women and to suburban voters the kinds of people he's going to need to win if he hopes to win Pennsylvania come November. And he makes his case with a few new policy proposals.

He says he's going to push for six weeks of paid maternity leave for women who don't already receive that benefit through their employers, and he also announced a new set of child care subsidies.

This is of course designed to offset the cost of child care not just for families where both parents are working but also for families that have a stay-at-home parent.

Now, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, joined him on the campaign trail to help make this pitch, and Trump insisted that all of these plans will be paid for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This maternity leave will be paid straight out of the unemployment insurance fund. And again, the safety net will be completely paid for through savings within the program.

There are more reforms and solutions in our child care plan, and you can review them all on the web site. On Thursday, I will outline my full economic plan, which is completely paid for through economic growth and proposed federal budget savings. It's going to be something special like this country hasn't seen in many, many decades.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: But you see there he's not offering a whole lot of detail yet on how he's going to pay for it. That should come Thursday in an economic speech we're expecting in New York.

CHURCH: Sara Murray reporting there. And in the meantime, the New York Attorney General's Office is investigating Trump's charitable foundation. The inquiry comes after a Washington Post report that Trump spent money from his charity on himself.

The report says he hasn't given to his foundation since 2008, and used it to make others' contributions look like they came from him. The Trump campaign calls the attorney general a partisan hack who has endorsed Clinton.

At the same time Trump is maintaining his focus on Clinton's remark that half of his supporters are deplorable. She admitted later she grossly generalized, but Trump is hammering the remark in campaign appearances, and now it's in a new ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speaking to wealthy donors, Hillary Clinton called tens of millions of Americans deplorable. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You could put half

of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People like you, you, and you. Deplorable. You know what's deplorable? Hillary Clinton viciously demonizing hard- working people like you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, for more on the campaign in these final weeks we are joined by Jacob Parakilas. He is the assistant head of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House. Thank you, sir, for being with us.

So, on Tuesday, as Hillary Clinton took time out to recover from pneumonia, President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail on her behalf and hammered Donald Trump, as we heard. How effective was his attack, and what impact will this likely have on attracting more support for Clinton?

JACOB PARAKILAS, CHATHAM HOUSE ASSISTANT PROJECT DIRECTOR: There are I think two ways to think about it. On the one hand you would be hard pressed to find a better surrogate for a presidential campaign than the sitting president of the United States.

And Obama actually has a fairly strong position at this moment because a bunch of new census data was released yesterday that showed significant economic growth, and for the first time in years, significant median income growth across the U.S.

And at the same time, his popularity ratings in the latest Washington Post poll have gone up to about 58 percent. And if you subscribe to what's called the fundamentals model of understanding how campaigns work, the idea of having a sitting president with a relatively high approval rating, a growing economy, those are all good for the incumbent party.

At the same time, I think there's a lot of question about the effectiveness of any surrogate, that, you know, that in any campaign you have sort of fundamental issues with how -- what the campaign's long-term message is, what its strategy is, what its operational effectiveness is.

So, the day-to-day effectiveness of one individual's speech, one individual surrogate is probably pretty limited.

[03:39:57] But by that -- you know, even with that accepted, Obama I think is a strong surrogate for Clinton. He is presenting a message that a lot of people will be willing to hear.

CHURCH: All right. So for her sake he needs to stay out in the campaign trail for her. Right? So, on the other side of the political spectrum, Donald Trump spent Tuesday with his daughter Ivanka trying to attract that elusive female vote by unveiling details of a child care plan. Not very republican, really, when you look at it. How is that likely

to be received, and how does it compare to what Clinton's campaign has to offer on the same issue?

PARAKILAS: Trump's plan offers six weeks of paid maternity leave and suggests it will pay for it by making savings. Now, that's not really necessarily credible as of yet.

Now he's promised more specifics on Thursday. We'll see what those specifics are. But to suggest simply that eliminating fraud and abuse will pay for a new maternity leave benefit by itself I think is pretty difficult to believe.

Ivanka Trump as a surrogate I think again is relatively effective for Trump. She's quite popular. I think her image generally is quite good. Unfortunately, it's not really necessarily going to be enough to offset Trump's image amongst women, which is bad outside the realm of almost anything we've seen on the national level.

His numbers amongst women are really off the charts bad. So, he will have to do a great deal to sort of win enough support from women to be competitive in places like Pennsylvania. That if you look at the electoral college map he really needs to win if he wants to win in November.

CHURCH: All right. Just very quickly, Trump's campaign has strategically steered clear of any mention of Clinton's health, instead, hammering her on her basket of deplorables comment. Is that going to work for Trump and increase support for him?

PARAKILAS: Well, I think the basket of deplorables comment is much more of a double-edged sword than perhaps Trump's camp realizes. I don't know if they want to draw attention to the fact that people like David Duke have endorsed Trump.

And that a lot of Trump supporters have engaged in misogynistic, anti- Semitic and racist attacks on reporters and other surrogates and supporters of Clinton on social media. I think that's a slightly dangerous territory for them.

CHURCH: All right. Jacob Parakilas, pleasure to chat with you. Many thanks for your perspective on this. I appreciate it.

Well, he has ruled Zimbabwe for 36 years. Ahead, we go inside the country to show you why the tide may be turning against President Robert Mugabe.

Plus, European football's governing body will get a new president very soon. And we will see who's in the running. That's coming your way in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Unemployment in Zimbabwe is running at 80 percent. After nearly four decades of rule by one man. Young people say their future is being destroyed, and police want to ban protests for a month. [03:45:00] CNN's David McKenzie got rare access inside Zimbabwe for

this exclusive report.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The protests now happen every week. The response from Harare's police always brutal. Here a tear gas canister is lobbed into a packed commuter van.

For 36 years, Robert Mugabe has depended on the police to enforce his rule to crush dissent. But the dissent is now building from within.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think people don't know what's actually happening in Zimbabwe.

MCKENZIE: This veteran police officer has taken an enormous risk just to meet with us. We're concealing his identity for his protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were told to beat up everyone who was there but that's not the initial instruction that we were given. It came later on.

MCKENZIE: So, the politicians are ordering police to beat up protesters? Is that the case?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That I believe.

MCKENZIE: Politicians from a regime that he says will stop at nothing to stay in power.

A government spokesman told CNN that it's not the case. He denies that Mugabe's party is ordering the police to attack protesters. They say the protesters are out to damage property.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The very same people we are beating, some of -- some of them are my schoolmates, some of them are my friends, or people that we live within the community. So, it's a job, but there is nothing you can do.

MCKENZIE: Having to go months without pay, he says he and many of his fellow officers sympathize with the activists that they've been ordered to suppress.

We spent days trying to get the trust of this group of activists that we're following, and we're going to a secret meeting. Their aim is to unseat the government of Robert Mugabe.

Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can wait inside.

MCKENZIE: Yes. Yes. That's fine. No problem. We'll wait inside.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCKENZIE: Hidden from view, political gatherings like this are taking place in back yards and houses throughout Zimbabwe. Social media is used to organize the movement and stay ahead of state security apparatus.

They face arrest and say fellow activists have disappeared. But they are undeterred.

But are you afraid that the police will strike back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether they strike back or not, we are not afraid.

MCKENZIE: But this police officer has seen the orders, and he is afraid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The talk of the use of tear smoke, they talk of the use of animals like dogs, horses and the like. And the last one is the use of firearms in that order.

MCKENZIE: Are you afraid someone's going to get killed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. If the momentum of these demonstrations continues, I think eventually they are going to use live ammunition. That's my worry.

MCKENZIE: Mugabe says the protesters are playing a dangerous game. But his fate and the fate of Zimbabwe could finally be in their hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And David joins us now from across the border in South Africa. David, an incredible report there. And of course this isn't the first time that activists have tried to fight the Mugabe regime. But the momentum is building here, isn't it? So, how might this effort be different, do you think?

MCKENZIE: Well, sometimes it's dangerous to look into the crystal ball in Zimbabwe because Mugabe has fended off threats to his regime before. But several factors are at play here. You've got those youth activists using social media, pushing from chains from the ground up.

But then you've also got these key leaders, veterans of the liberation struggle that have abandoned the ruling Zanu-PF and have started their own party and could push them at the ballot box. And then finally and probably most importantly, Zimbabwe is running out of cash.

You've got this situation that civil servants aren't being paid. Even if they are paid, they're paid very late, including the security services. And that's a big threat certainly to the regime of Robert Mugabe.

CHURCH: All right. Our David McKenzie with that powerful report. Many thanks to you.

We'll take a very short break here. But still to come, an oven that turns off when you tell it to and a dryer that can tell you when the laundry will be done. Sounds like the home of the future? Well, it's here today, in fact. And we'll take a look. Stay with us.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Well, voting will begin shortly for the next president of European football's governing body, UEFA. There are two candidates left to replace Michel Platini. He was found guilty of ethics violations and banned from all football activities for four years.

CNN world sport correspondent Alex Thomas joins us live from London with the latest on this. So, Alex, the vote for a new UEFA president takes place maybe in just over 20 minutes from now. Could be later than that. What can we expect in terms of results in this? And talk to us about these two candidates.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Well, the favorite to become the next president of UEFA, the governing body for European football is a 48-year-old lawyer called Aleksander Ceferin who is the president of Slovenia's Football Association.

But already before Congress started in Athens in Greece where it's being held we've seen Michel Platini address the Congress. You see the details there about Ceferin. As the 48 years old turns 49 in the next month I think. He's been head of Slovenia's Football Association since 2011. He's on FIFA's disciplinary committee as well.

This is someone who ended up running his family's legal firm. He represented pro-athletes and sports clubs in at least three languages because Italian is also an official language of Slovenia along with Slovenian who speaks English, fluently as well.

He's a black belt in karate. And his main manifesto pledge is really going to clamp down on what is seen as the increasing power of the clubs across Europe, particularly in the top five leagues in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

And his opposition, his rival candidate is Michael Van Praag, who's president at the Netherlands Football Federation. Van Praag did try and run for the presidency of FIFA, the world governing body, last year in May but pulled out to support Prince Ali, who lost out to Sepp blatter before the huge chain of events we've seen surrounding world football and allegations of corruption.

Van Praag seen as kind of the safer choice, but at the moment just the unofficial word on the street, Rosemary, is that Ceferin is that definitely the man who's likely to get more votes.

CHURCH: Interesting. Of course you mentioned Michel Platini actually -- to actually banned from all football activities for four years for those ethics violations. But addressing the Congress, that's pretty strange. What all did he have to say, and why was he allowed to do -- to do that? It just seems very odd.

THOMAS: It does. You wouldn't get that in any other walk of life. And this is football's huge problem, that it's still seen as an old boys club, old men in suits, and they can't understand why people outside of that sort of clique would feel at odds, that they still owe Michel Platini the sort of platitude of letting him address UEFA's Congress before it officially started. It wasn't on the live stream that's going on on UEFA's web site right now.

[03:55:00] It was one of the UEFA officials who have actually reached out to Platini to invite him to speak because they knew, stayed in touch with him, that he wanted to say one last thing, and they got special permission from FIFA's ethics committee to do so, but it does seem odd.

CHURCH: Yes, quite extraordinary indeed. Alex Thomas joining us there live from London. Many thanks to you. We know you will monitor that vote for us and get back to us. Many thanks.

All right. So, it sounds like something from a futuristic science fiction novel. But now you can preheat the oven, start the dishwasher, and check the laundry just by saying it. I'm talking about Amazon's voice assistant Alexa. A new app for the device connects via Wi-Fi to certain G.E. appliances like your refrigerator or oven. If you haven't seen Alexa, here's how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alexa, play rock music.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rock music.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alexa, stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to try. Alexa, what time is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The time is 3:27.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You actually don't have to yell at it. It use far field technology. So, it can hear from you anywhere in the room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Amazing. When of course, the new app is called Geneva. So you would have to say Alexa, tell Geneva to set the oven timer for 20 minutes. But there are limits. You won't be able to turn on stovetop burners, and older appliances can't be updated for voice control. But nothing is impossible.

So, I have one of those at home. Alexa is extraordinary.

Thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter. And there's more news after the break with Isa Soares in London.

You have yourselves a great day.

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