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Republican and Democratic Vice Presidential Nominees Meet in One and Only Debate; Bracing for Matthew. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 05, 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 NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: A clash of substance, style, and strategy. The Republican and Democratic vice presidential nominees meet in their one and only debate. A look at who won and how it might impact their bosses' chances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM KAINE, (D) U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't imagine how Governor Pence can defend the insult-driven selfish me first style of Donald Trump.

MIKE PENCE, (R) U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator, you and Hillary Clinton would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Bracing for Matthew: The category 4 hurricane heads for the Bahamas after leaving a trail of misery in Haiti.

And gunning for Amazon and Apple. Google unveils a slate of new hardware intended for your home.

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

After a contentious vice presidential debate the question now is whether it will help or hurt the candidates at the top of the tickets. Democrat Tim Kaine and republican Mike Pence shook hands at the start of their only debate but they quickly clashed.

Kaine repeatedly attacked Donald Trump's positions and Pence remained calm but often pivoted away from defending Trump.

This debate comes as polls in two key battleground states show Hillary Clinton pulling away from Trump. In a CNN/ORC instant poll, Pence was the debate winner with a narrow victory over Kaine. Here's a quick look at some key debate moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELAINE QUIJANO, DEBATE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, the people at home cannot understand...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: People ought to have some...

QUIJANO: ... either one of you when you speak over each other. I would please ask you to wait until it is that the other is finished.

(APPLAUSE)

KAINE: Donald Trump must give the American public his tax returns to show that he's qualified to be president. And he's breaking his promise.

PENCE: Elaine, he can roll out the numbers and the sunny side but I got to tell you the people in Scranton know different. People in Fort Wayne, Indiana know different. The answer to this economy is not more taxes.

KAINE: But, Elaine...

PENCE: Thank you, senator. Thank you.

KAINE: These guys have praised Vladimir Putin as a great leader.

PENCE: Senator, I must have hit...

(CROSSTALK)

QUIJANO: Why the disconnect?

PENCE: You know, there's an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates. And the truth of the matter is the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia.

(CROSSTALK)

QUIJANO: Two hundred fifty thousand people...

PENCE: If your son or my son handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did they'd be court marshaled.

QUIJANO: Governor...

KAINE: He's called women slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting. He went after John McCain, a POW, and said he wasn't a hero because he'd been captured.

PENCE: There they go again.

KAINE: I've said to Governor Pence I can't imagine how you can defend your running mate's position on one issue after the next. And yet, he is asking everybody to vote for somebody that he cannot defend.

PENCE: Just trying to keep up with the insult-driven campaign on the other side of the...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: You know, I'm just saying facts about your running mate.

PENCE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, let's bring in our guest now. CNN political analyst and Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, and CNN political commentator and former Mitt Romney public policy director Lanhee Chen.

Thank you both for joining us.

Now, I want to start with you, Josh Rogin, and get your assessment of this vice presidential debate. Was it a game changer? What stood out for you? And who do you think came out on top?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks so much. I don't think that this debate will move the needle on the presidential election significantly one way or the other. But we did learn a lot about both vice presidential candidates and what they would do if they were elected.

I would have to say that in the end Mike Pence controlled the debate. He spoke for much more time than Tim Kaine. He was more competent in responding to attacks than Tim Kaine was, and he gave a lot of policy details that previously the public had not heard from the Trump/Pence ticket.

On the other hand, a lot of those policy details seem to contradict a lot of what Donald Trump has said in public. And those are the kinds of discrepancy that's people will be focusing on over the next few days.

CHURCH: Yes. And we'll come back to that. Lanhee Chen, overall, big picture, what did you think? Who came out on top in this debate?

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I largely agree with Josh's assessment. I think that Governor Pence had a very good debate. I think this is one of those situations, it's interesting. I don't think most Americans had ever heard of or really had any interaction with either of these candidates.

[03:05:01] And so, what tonight's debate really was an introduction to Americans, to both of these gentlemen. And I think Governor Pence acquit himself very favorably. I think particularly on matters of style. What you'll notice is that Tim Kaine was constantly interrupting Governor Pence, whereas, I think Governor Pence overall from a temperament point of view was able to present quite well.

So I think Governor Pence did a great job tonight. My sense is that most Americans will feel that way. But in the coming days we'll see how the contrast between what Pence put out there tonight and what Trump has said on the campaign trail, we'll see how that contrast plays out. CHURCH: Yes. That certainly has stood out for most people, hasn't it?

And of course in the debate, Governor Pence said Trump will release his tax returns after his audit. This, despite the leaking of some of Trump's income tax returns from 1995 that showed a nearly billion- dollar loss that could have spared him paying income taxes for up to 18 years.

Was this a lost opportunity to respond to undecided voters who want to see Trump's tax returns released? Josh Rogin, you first.

ROGIN: Yes. I think Mike Pence handled the tax returns question as well as he could, which is to say not very well at all. You know, there's just simply no really clear explanation about why Donald Trump won't release his tax returns.

This is one of the things that Tim Kaine continued to focus on several times during the debate. And Mike Pence was forced to defend Trump's business practices without any real knowledge of Trump's business practices.

And now Tim Kaine's strategy the entire debate was to force Mike Pence to defend Donald Trump. On most of those points Pence did a reasonably competent job but on the tax return issue there's not much he could say.

CHURCH: And Lanhee Chen, I want your answer on that but also Governor Pence as we've discussed refused to defend a number of things Trump has said and didn't agree with Trump's stand on Russia, trade, and policing. What is the likely fallout from that, do you think, going forward? Maybe not in the hours, but certainly the days ahead.

CHEN: I think the tax answer that Governor Pence gave was about as good as he could have done. I don't think the tax returns are forthcoming. And so, I think he had to do the best he could. In terms of the contrast between what Pence put out there and what Trump's policies are, you know, it's interesting.

I was watching during the debate the reaction of a number of people who are self-identified conservatives saying wouldn't it be great if Mike Pence was the one at the top of the ticket and not Donald Trump? Because so many of the positions and things he was articulating are positions and issues and policy preferences that conservatives have.

The challenge is going to be squaring what he said with what Trump has said. And I think this is actually has been a constant refrain on the campaign trail. You have Mike Pence out there saying things that seem very reasonable to conservatives and then you have Donald Trump saying in some cases the exact opposite.

Now the problem is of course Trump is at the top of the ticket. So what he says will control. And ultimately, I think that is the more difficult and sticky problem going forward into the next presidential debate on Sunday.

CHURCH: Right. And how will this debate affect their respective campaigns' narrative going forward? And did they each pass the commander-in-chief test? Josh Rogin.

ROGIN: Yes. Well, it's clear that now the Trump slide since the first presidential debate, that story will now be replaced by this story. So, in that sense even though it's a low bar that's a win for the Trump campaign.

Now we have a new narrative until Trump says or tweets something ridiculous in the middle of the night once again. So, barring, that if they can just keep this momentum going, they should be in good shape.

As for the commander-in-chief test, it's very clear, and I agree with Lanhee on this, that Mike Pence has a very good command of a lot of policy issues, especially foreign policy. But it's not Trump's foreign policy.

And what Mike Pence laid out, I mean, being tough on Russia, he even advocated for striking the Assad regime, all of these things are what you would consider to be classic hawkish republican foreign policy positions and they're all directly contradicted by things Donald Trump has said in the past.

So, in the end what the voters will have to decide who do they believe will run Trump's foreign policy, Mike Pence or Donald Trump?

CHURCH: And Lanhee Chen, this is going to be problematic, isn't it, for the Trump campaign, these two different stands on some pretty important issues here.

So, let's get your response there to the impact on the campaign's narrative. And of course this matter of whether Pence passed the commander-in-chief test. It sounds like you think he did.

CHEN: Yes, I thought Pence did very well tonight in that respect. I do think that Josh raises a good point, which is on Syria, on Russia, in a few different areas there certainly was difference between the position that Pence articulated tonight and what Trump's been saying on the campaign trail.

Now, bear in mind how impactful this debate will be is an open question. In 2012, you'll recall Barack Obama handily lost his first debate to Mitt Romney, my former boss and then the perception was that Vice President Biden did well in that debate against Paul Ryan and that supposedly stemmed the tide.

[03:10:08] But what really will matter ultimately is how the presidential nominee does in this debate coming up on Sunday and then the final debate in Las Vegas on October the 18th or 19th.

I think that ultimately will be the test of whether this narrative continues or whether this was a temporary deviation from the norm, which really has been a very difficult two weeks for Donald Trump.

CHURCH: Yes. We'll be watching for those candidates at the top of the tickets to see if there's any difference in the way they hold themselves and perform in the next presidential debate.

Lanhee Chen, Josh Rogin, thanks to both of you for joining us. We appreciate it.

ROGIN: Thank you.

CHEN: Thank you.

CHURCH: And you can get much more on what said what and whether it jibes with reality on our web site. It's all at cnn.com/politics.

Another story we're following, hurricane Matthew is pummeling Cuba after making a second landfall Tuesday night. It's now a category 3 storm with winds over 200 kilometers per hour.

Forecasters say Cuba could get up to 50 centimeters of rain. The hurricane first made landfall early Tuesday in western Haiti. The flooding and damage there, widespread. Haiti still struggling of course to recover from a deadly earthquake back in 2010.

Well, Hurricane Matthew may still strengthen over the next 24 hours, with millions now potentially in its crosshairs.

Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now from the International Weather Center with all the details on the track ahead and who's in its path.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Rosemary, it's an ominous track, too, when you think about this storm system, where it's headed over the next 24 hours. And as you said it's been downgraded just slightly to a category 3. Still a major hurricane. Winds 205 kilometers per hour. And what it's done, it brushed by the western tip of Haiti over the past 24 hours.

In the last several hours brushed by the eastern tip of Cuba.

So, again not much interaction with land. That is a critical component and not allowing the storm system to weakening significantly. And you take a look at what's ahead of it.

As we go for a closer perspective the turquoise waters if you've ever flown into any tropical landscape or the Bahamas in particular, the archipelago made up of 700 islands. The continental shelf that sets the stage here for the beautiful color in the waters is very shallow, really sets the stage also for a catastrophe to unfold when a major hurricane is on approach.

And I want to show you why we think this is a potential around the next 24 or so hours. First of all, Matthew has been able to retain a category 4 or category 5 status for over 100 hours up until the last hour when it was downgraded to a category 3.

This alone is actually more than all hurricanes combined in the Atlantic Ocean since the year 2008. For the longevity of such an incredible storm. And the forecast is expected to take the storm and strengthen in just a little more over the next 24 to 48 hours.

And you take a look with this particular feature, I want to show you exactly what we're talking about when it comes to the landscape and also the storm surge potential. Because you think about the Bahamas, very shallow beaches, very gradual slope there as far as approaching the beaches toward the coastal communities.

So, all of this water will want to pile up and directly impact these coastal communities and really could lead to major, major inundation on these coastal communities as well.

Again, forecast over there area over the next 24 to 48 hours will take the storm system directly over portions of the Bahamas and very slow progression two over the next several days.

So, the wave heights, the storm surge three to four meters over the next couple of days. And then notice by say, Thursday into Friday it will park off the eastern coast of the United States, around eastern Florida beyond that potentially could impact parts of the Carolinas and the State of Georgia on the coast there.

And again, gradual weakening is expected with the storm system. As you take a look, sea surface temperatures pushing 30 degrees Celsius. That is around 86 degrees Fahrenheit. So, plenty warm here to support an explosive growth in the storm.

And, Rosemary, the model confidence very high for the Bahamas and then look what happens as it gets in toward the Carolinas there. A lot of disagreement between where the forecast models are taking the storm system but the highest confidence is that millions of people could be impacted.

I mean, the impact over 1.1 million people have already been issued evacuation orders there in the state of South Carolina as the storm system approaches later this week. Rosie?

CHURCH: Yes. A lot of things to worry us all. Watching that very closely, Pedram Javaheri, thanks.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, Colombia's government and FARC rebels are promising to respect a ceasefire while they try to rework their peace deal. Voters surprisingly rejected the pact Sunday, which would have ended decades of war.

The president says the ceasefire will stay in place until the end of this month, and that raised some concerns among the rebels. The FARC leaders wants to know what will happen after October 31st.

[03:15:03] Well, a day after suspending talks with Russia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington will continue pursuing peace in Syria. That story still to come.

Plus, why the president of the Philippines is threatening to break up with the United States. We'll explain. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hey, I'm Don Riddell with your CNN world sport headlines.

Maria Sharapova says she's counting down the days until she's allowed back on a tennis court after learning on Tuesday that her two-year drug ban was reduced by nine months and can return to play again on April the 25th.

Sharapova had been legally taking Meldonium before it was added to the banned list on New Year's Day. She said she hadn't realized and therefore failed the test at the Australian Open and was banned in June.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that she bore some degree of responsibility but ultimately concluded that she wasn't trying to cheat.

FIFA's new president Gianni Infantino has proposed the World Cup should be expanded from 32 teams to a whopping 48. Infantino originally mooted a 40-team tournament when he was running for the top job in world football. He now says you need as many as 48 to make it work. Any such decision wouldn't be made until January, and if approved nothing would actually change until the World Cup in 2026.

Arnold Palmer was laid to rest in a private family funeral last week. But on Tuesday some of the sport's biggest names gathered to honor him at a memorial service in Pennsylvania. Rickie Fowler arrived clutching the Ryder Cup.

Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Annika Sorenstam were also in attendance, and one of his greatest rivals and best friends Jack Nicklaus delivered an emotional tribute.

That is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

CHURCH: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington is not giving up on peace in Syria. A day after breaking off talks with Russia to restore a ceasefire.

In Aleppo, regime and rebel forces clashed Tuesday as Syrian airstrikes pounded eastern neighborhoods. Kerry says Moscow failed to uphold the ceasefire by supporting the Syrian regime and deliberately targeting civilians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Together the Syrian regime and Russia seem to have rejected diplomacy in furtherance of trying to pursue a military victory. Over the broken bodies, the bombed-out hospitals, the traumatized children of a long-suffering land.

[03:19:59] People who are serious about making peace behave differently from the way Russia has chosen to behave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And U.S. Officials say Russia refuses to admit its role in Syria's devastation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: You can't choose your own facts, and the facts are that the Russian military is aiding the Assad regime as it continues this devastating siege on Aleppo and continuing to kill innocent people who are simply trying to live a better life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, Russia says it has deployed an advanced missile defense system to Syria.

And joining me now to discuss all this is CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson in Istanbul, Turkey, and CNN international correspondent, Matthew Chance, who is live in Moscow, Russia.

Thanks to both of you for joining us.

And Matthew, I want to go to you first and get reaction from Moscow to U.S. accusations that Russia and Syria have rejected diplomacy in favor of working together to attack and kill civilians in Aleppo.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the notion that Russia has rejected the idea of diplomacy is something that the Kremlin isn't going along with, neither the foreign ministry nor any institutions here.

In fact, they're blaming the United States for the break-up of that cessation of hostilities saying that the U.S. was simply nor able or not willing to uphold its end of the bargain, for instance, by separating the moderate rebels as the U.S. calls them from the Jihadists. The whole cessation period according to the Russians.

There were hundreds of attacks by both of those groups on Syrian forces and in the end the Russian said that simply that wasn't acceptable.

Sergey Lavrov speaking yesterday, basically again, rejecting any Russian responsibility for this. And saying, look, there were always those in the United States that were not willing to see a peace deal on the ground in Syria.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (TRANSLATED): Unfortunately, from the very beginning there were many who wished to break down the agreements including from within the U.S. administration.

And as you know, yesterday to our deep regret those who were against political settlement of a Syrian crisis, against the fulfillment of the relevant U.N. resolutions, didn't have a clear plan of solving the situation by force succeeded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: It's also interesting that John Kerry line you played about how the Russians are rejecting diplomacy in favor essentially of killing civilians. I mean, it's important to remember that's not the Russian objective. They're not in Syria to kill as many civilians as possible and to bomb as many hospitals as possible.

They are there, though, to end the conflict but crucially to end it on their terms. They want to see a Syria with their ally Bashar al-Assad in power and that is fundamentally different to the vision of the future Syria that the United States has.

And so, this cessation of hostilities, this whole peace process, was fundamentally flawed on that level from the start.

CHURCH: And, Matthew, the U.S. is also questioning why Russia has sent an advance missile system to Syria. What is the end game there as tensions escalate, of course, between the U.S. and Russia?

CHANCE: Yes, they have escalated. You're right. And the relationship is very unstable at the moment and that's very worrying. Yes, it's been confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry that they've deployed the S-300 surface to air missile system in the naval port of Tartus and it's not the first time despite what's been reported. It's not the first time an equivalent missile system has been in that area.

There was -- I was there in December and there was a ship, a Russian ship off the coast, the Moskva, missile cruiser which had the naval equipment to these missiles on board.

But you know, it is a significant, you know, bolstering of Russia's surface to air, you know, anti-aircraft defenses inside Syria. But I think you have to view it within the context of what they've already got on the ground.

Remember that after the shoot down of the Russian warplane by Turkish interceptors in November last year Russia already deployed arguably the world's most sophisticated surface to air missile system inside Syria the S-400.

And so this S-300 system is a lesser version of that. And so it bolsters their capability but doesn't necessarily enhance the threat that they now pose potentially to U.S. warplanes or coalition warplanes.

CHURCH: Right. So, let's go to our Nic Robertson now, who is there in Istanbul but watching what's happening on the ground in Aleppo. What more are you learning about the fighting there and word that Russia is perhaps encircling Aleppo?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What we've heard from the United States and we've heard from the rebels and opposition activist groups is that they feel that the tactics that are being used by Russia and Syria are to, you know, besiege this population and essentially sort of pulverize them into submission. [03:24:55] And the speediest way to do that is to target hospitals

because that reduces their ability to treat their wounded, create greater stresses and strains on the system over and above a shortage of fuel, a shortage of ability to cook staples like bread, a shortage of water, a shortage of electricity.

All these things it's designed to quickly, as quickly as possible, because they lack the troops to go in on the ground, to as quickly as possible bring 275,000 people to the point of surrender. Which was sort of an initiative that Russia and Syria tried about a month and a half ago by saying that they would open up humanitarian corridors to let the citizens and the fighters out of that area.

And it's what the Syrian government has done more effectively perhaps on a smaller scale in areas around Damascus. So, that's sort of where things stand at the moment.

Of course the fighting continues. There was shelling of a university in the government-controlled part of Aleppo yesterday by rebel forces. Six people on the government side of the front line were killed. In the past 24 hours 20 people on the rebel side of the front lines there in Aleppo were killed.

So, the killing absolutely is continuing. And that's just Aleppo. We're hearing it in other parts of the country, too. But, you know, where the -- where does this potential surface-to-air missile system leave, or what advantage does it give Russia or the Syrian forces?

You know, the United States questions it and says look, if you're fighting ISIS and terrorists like Al Qaeda as you say you are, they don't have air forces. So. why do you need an air defense system?

But the real concern amongst U.S. officials is that perhaps Russia might put that missile defense system on the mountains in the northwest of Syria, which would give it additional capability to look into the air space that the United States is using in the east of Syria to target ISIS there.

So, there's a concern in the U.S. that it will expand what Russia already has, and it's that sort of military strategic potential expansion that gives Russia a greater visibility to what the United States is doing in the air that gives some pause for concern, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Very worrying development there for sure. Nic Robertson joining us live from Istanbul. Matthew Chance there in Moscow. Many thanks to you both.

Well, the fiercest storm to hit Haiti in 50 years is now making landfall in Cuba. We are tracking hurricane Matthew. That's coming up.

Plus, brand new developments out of Thailand, where a Hong Kong protest leader detained earlier in the day is now free. We're back for the details.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: And a very warm welcome back to our viewers all around the globe. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on the main stories we're following this hour

Tim Kaine and Mike Pence faced off Tuesday in the only vice presidential debate of this U.S. election. It was full of interruptions with both men defending their party's presidential candidates while trashing the opposition.

A CNN/ORC instant poll finds most viewers think Pence was the winner 48 to 42 percent.

Russia is putting an air defense missile system at its military base in Syria. The Russians say it's only for defense and will not threaten anyone in the region. But the U.S. claims the system proves Russia is not just focused on targeting extremists in Syria.

Hurricane Matthew is pummeling Cuba after making a second landfall just hours ago. The storm first hit western Haiti early Tuesday. The flooding and damage there are widespread. At least seven people have been killed in this storm.

And Haiti is not well equipped to manage a disaster of this magnitude. The small island is still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake that struck six years ago. Tom Sater reports.

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The strongest hurricane to hit Haiti in over 50 years, Matthew ripped into the country's southeast peninsula around 6 a.m. local time Tuesday. It made landfall near the city of Les Anglais, packing winds of 230 kilometers per hour.

Matthew was the first hurt to hit Haiti since the devastating earthquake in 2010 that killed over 200,000 people. This video was shot by the mayor of a local town near landfall. You can hear the howling winds and see the trees bending sideways as the hurricane came ashore. Due to Haiti's poorly constructed buildings and homes, many expect the damage to be extensive.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many people aren't prepared and we're already seeing and hearing stories of people losing their houses, you know, getting swept away. We've even seen some hospitals and clinics destroyed already.

(END VOICE CLIP)

SATER: A thousand facilities across the country have been designated as safe havens. Some people, however, are afraid to leave their homes because of fear their belongings will be stolen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELERME PRIVERT, INTERIM HAITIAN PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): We've already deaths. People who are out at sea. There are people who are missing. There are people who did not respect the alerts. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SATER: The forecast calls for the country to receive as much as 300 to 600 millimeters of rain with life-threatening floods and flash floods are likely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately, the scale of this hurricane is far beyond the capacity of this government and of the NGOs that are working here. Really we're going to need external aides to be able to respond to the immediate needs that are going to be water, shelter, and food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SATER: Another worry for Haiti, standing water. Aid agencies fear that mosquito-borne diseases will spread, including cholera, which has taken another 10,000 lives and plagued the country since the earthquake. A devastating reality for a country that has already endured so much.

Tom Sater, CNN.

CHURCH: The president of the Philippines says Barack Obama can "go to hell." His words there. President Rodrigo Duterte is lashing out again over America's criticism of his deadly anti-drug campaign. He says he's willing to cut ties with the U.S. in favor of Russia and China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGO DUTERTE, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: Instead of helping us, the first to hit is the State Department. So, you can go to hell. Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.

[03:35:03] You better choose purgatory. The hell is full.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The White House says the U.S. has not received any requests from the Philippines to change their relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The warm relationship that exists between the Filipino and American people. There's also an important record of cooperation between our two governments. Cooperation that has continued under the Duterte government, in fact.

Even as we protect this strong alliance, the administration and the United States of America will not hesitate to raise our concerns about extrajudicial killings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mr. Duterte's remarks came just as the U.S. and the Philippines started joint military exercises.

World leaders are finishing up a two-day aid conference in Brussels trying to raise billions of dollars to keep Afghanistan running. The lack of money is compounded by an increase in Taliban violence and ISIS terror.

Sune Engel Rasmussen, a reporter for the Guardian stationed in Kabul joins us now live via Skype. Good to see you, Sune. So, just how bad is the Taliban violence, and what do you know about ISIS attacks in the country?

SUNE ENGEL RASMUSSEN, GUARDIAN REPORTER: Well, the Taliban this week attacked two provincial capitals at the same time. They attacked Kunduz in the north which we also managed to seize last year. They made it all the way to the central square where they briefly this time hosted their white flag.

And then they encroached on the capital of the Helmand province in the south. They didn't attack but got, they got very close and got control of two districts, two strategically important districts.

As for ISIS, they constitute some small pockets of fighters out in the east of the country in Nangarhar province where they have control of four districts. They probably a number less than a thousand. But they do act with the signature of brutality that we've seen in other parts -- in other parts of the world.

And definitely, a different force of the Taliban even though they maybe consist of former Taliban fighters.

CHURCH: And of course this violence going on as the aid conference in Brussels is trying to raise money for Afghanistan. How critical is this for the country's survival?

RASMUSSEN: You'd almost think that the Taliban had timed their attacks on Helmand and Kunduz to correspond with the conference. But I think from an Afghan perspective I think the renewed commitments from the international community are crucial to continue in both their political reforms and the sort of struggle for development in the country but also to feel that the international community is backing them.

The military commitments were made earlier this year. And we all (Inaudible). What we hearing before Brussels was that the international community would commit more or less the same amount of statistics, last time in Tokyo maybe minus possibly 20 percent or 15 percent in aid.

So, this is important for the Afghan government because from an Afghan perspective this money given from the international community is not only charity, it's also money that goes to stabilize Afghanistan and in turn the international community, the west, the U.S. and then Europe. That's the way the Afghans are portraying their profit and that's what they arguing in Brussels as well.

CHURCH: All right. Sune Engele Rasmusses watching all those developments relating to Afghanistan. Many thanks to you, joining us there live from Kabul.

Well, democracy activist Joshua Wong is reportedly on his way back to Hong Kong after being detained in Bangkok. His political party says he was on his way to a speaking engagement in Thailand when he was stopped and denied entry at the airport in Bangkok.

Let's bring in Ivan Watson who joins us live from Hong Kong with more on this. So, Ivan, what more are you learning about why Wong was detained in Bangkok and what role China played in this?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the Thai student organization that had invited Joshua Wong to speak at their conference commemorating a university massacre in 1976 in Thailand, they say that they were told it was because China had raised objections to Joshua Wong coming to Thailand.

That is not something that we've been able to independently verify, either with Thai authorities or with Chinese authorities.

But it is striking that this 20-year-old activist from Hong Kong who helped lead the 2014 occupy sit-in here in Hong Kong.

[03:40:04] And thus, angered the Beijing government, that he was detained upon arrival at the airport in Bangkok, the Thai capital, held for hours. And now we understand he's on a flight back to Hong Kong and according to his supporters he's due to arrive here any minute now.

There has already been a small protest at the Thai consulate here in Hong Kong from some of his supporters about this. It's worth noting that before departing, Joshua Wong posted a note on his Facebook account saying that the, quote, "Thai government is known to be unstable. Corruption and abuse of power in the government are not news. And their stand to get close with the Chinese communist government is obvious."

So, he was suggesting there could already be problems before he'd even set foot on the plane to Thailand in the first place. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Interesting. And what is likely to happen next to Joshua Wong now that he has been released, he's heading back to Hong Kong? How safe is he?

WATSON: I don't think there's any reason to suggest that he would have any problems upon arriving back to Hong Kong. It is worth noting though, that this isn't the first time he was deported. He was deported last spring from Malaysia when he was traveling there.

Apparently, also he suggested because of complaints from the Chinese government. What does this tell us?

Well, it appears that China is flexing its muscles or at the very least that other countries in the region here are worried about offending China, about giving a platform for a 20-year-old activist from Hong Kong to speak in their countries. Beyond this, we've seen another pattern developing. It was last year

that the Thai authorities are believed to have handed over at least two Chinese dissidents who had sought refuge there by the names of Jiang Yefei and Dong Guangping would been detained allegedly for problems with immigration.

Then the next thing we knew they were giving televised confessions in the hands of Chinese authorities.

There was another Chinese dissident who was in Thailand named Gui Minhai in November of 2015. He mysteriously disappeared from his apartment in Thailand and then reappeared in China claiming on state television to have voluntarily turned himself in for a previous traffic accident.

All of that suggests that China seems to be exerting muscle across its borders and that some other countries here in the region are complying with China's requests. China doesn't like dissidents and criticism at home, and it also doesn't seem to like criticism beyond its borders either. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Very unnerving but good to hear that Joshua Wong has been released and is heading home. Ivan Watson joining us there live from Hong Kong. It is 3.42 in the afternoon there. Many thanks.

Well, the pangolin is tough enough to protect itself from everything in the world except poachers. Just ahead, the new effort to save the world's most trafficked animal.

Plus, Google unveiled its latest hardware. We will get a sneak peek at what Google Home can do for you. Back in a moment.

[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Students angry about rising tuition costs have been clashing with police at a South African university. The fee hike is supposed to happen next year. Wicks University has been closed for the past two weeks because of these violent protests.

There was similar unrest in South Africa last year over this same issue. Demonstrators barricaded universities and stormed the parliament, arguing that education is too expensive.

Well, the world's most trafficked mammal is getting some much-needed protection. One hundred eighty three governments have agreed to ban all international trade on pangolin parts.

CNN's David McKenzie joins me now from Johannesburg, South Africa with more on this. So, David, you had an opportunity to get up close and personal with this incredible creature. What did you learn?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it is one of the most elusive animals in the wild. Most people don't ever get to see the pangolin, but a million animals have been killed, say conservationists, in the last decades through poaching. So, we travel deep into the Kalahari Desert to find out more. For a

desert there's a surprising amount of wildlife. But what we're after is nearly impossible to find. And out here in the vast Kalahari it's like searching for a ghost.

WENDY PANAINO, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND RESEARCHER: They're so quiet and so shy most of the time. You could drive past one and not even notice it. You could walk past it and never notice it.

MCKENZIE: The radio tracker gives for researcher, Wendy Panaino, a fighting chance.

It's moving. We're listening for the tone of the tracker. If it goes up it means we're getting closer to the animal.

PANAINO: Yes.

MCKENZIE: She's seen more wild pangolins than perhaps anyone. Very little is known about these creatures. She knows every sighting is important. With its tightly interlocking scales acting as armor, the pangolin has no effective predators in the wild.

But it's the very same scales that make it the world's most trafficked mammal. In Asia pangolins have been decimated by poaching, where the scales are falsely believed to have medicinal benefits.

PANAINO: If we want to try to save them and do something about their numbers' declining understanding them gives us a chance.

MCKENZIE: So far the remoteness of the Kalahari has kept the population safe, but the trade has arrived in Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY JANSEN, APWG CO-CHAIRMAN: The future for pangolin is looking incredibly bleak. If trafficking carries on the way it is now they have 20 to 25 years left to be on earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: At a bio bank in Pretoria researchers study confiscated samples from Chinese customs drilling down into Pangolin DNA using forensics to combat trafficking. Newly announced trade restrictions are meant to protect pangolins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANSEN: To put it out on the ground and to stop things like the bush meat market and illegal trade in animals is incredibly difficult to enforce.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: So the stock of the seized pangolin scales continues to rise. While sightings in the wild become more special.

[03:50:05] PANAINO: It's an absolutely tragic, tragic thing. I mean, they are so rare and so unique. Just look at that. Look at that face.

MCKENZIE: The tragedy, knowing an extraordinary animal could easily vanish before it's fully understood.

What the largest trade meeting ever on endangered animals and plants here in Johannesburg, which just wrapped up, Rosemary, they did agree to put all pangolin species, all eight of them into the highest possible protection category.

But as you saw in that report it doesn't matter necessarily or it's not enough what's on paper in those trade agreements, in those treaties, but what happens in practice, in the enforcement side, and the attempts to dry up demand on species like pangolin. Rosemary?

CHURCH: It is very frustrating for all of us, any animal lover across the globe. Our David McKenzie joining us there from Johannesburg, in South Africa. Many thanks to you.

We'll take a break here, but when we come back, Google unveils a competitor to the Amazon Echo. How it could use artificial intelligence to make your life easier. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAVAHERI: Weather watch time. Big story continues to remain major Hurricane Matthew. It is a category 4 storm system impacting portions of western Haiti in the past 24 hours, and then most recently impacting eastern Cuba but very little in the way of degradation with the storm system.

It has remained category 4. In fact, we think it will strengthen just a little bit over the next couple of days as it moves over much of the Bahamas Islands across this region where elevation of course very limited. So we don't expect much weakening beyond this.

Sea surface temperatures also conducive. And the bay -- main threat really becomes the eastern seaboard of the United States as the storm now is forecast to parallel the eastern seaboard. And slight variations in its track could have a dramatic impact on the millions of people that are going to be impacted across that region of the United States.

But here we go, storm surge, we often talk about the severity and the significance of storm surge. And with an island nation that at its highest elevations is only meters above sea level this sort of a storm surge up to 4.5 meters is going to be really life-threatening for a lot of people, certainly why people are taking this serious across the Bahamas and a lot of rainfall in store as well over the next several days.

So, notice the model variations begin spreading a little bit as we go farther to the north but again, watching this very carefully to impact portions of the Carolinas sometime early this weekend across the southeastern United States. Temperatures still pretty warm. Atlanta around 28 degrees, Chicago some isolated storms around 24.

[03:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back. Tennis star Maria Sharapova has won an appeal to have her two-year doping ban reduced. The Court of Arbitration for Sport cut the ban to 15 months. She will be allowed to return to tennis in April.

The ban was originally set to last until January 2018. The Russian star was suspended after testing positive for Meldonium at the Australian Open in January. She admitted to taking the drug but said she did not know it had recently been added to the banned list.

Google is showing off new hardware. The product line includes the much-anticipated Google home.

CNN's Maribel Aber takes a look at what it does and why you might want it.

MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a debut day for Google Home. With the artificially intelligent device Google is taking aim squarely at Amazon's Echo. So the Echo has been a hit for Amazon. It's the personal assistant that you can ask to do anything, from put music on to call a ride for you.

And Google is hoping its home device will close the gap with that Amazon product. So, it's part of a broader announcement introducing new smartphones and a tablet for the holiday.

But it's Google's Home that's getting a lot of attention. It's a device that looks a little bit like an air freshener. It will use artificial intelligence to interact and understand what users are saying.

It will then respond conversationally. Google Home is expected to be able to answer the questions and say the weather. And it will also do more involved interaction, such as scheduling appointments for you.

As for pricing, Amazon's Echo goes for $180. Google is expected to price home lower to try and win customers. The whole line of new hardware line from Google is expected to be available in time for the holidays.

CHURCH: Think that might be popular, right? I'm Rosemary Church. There's more news after the break with Isa Soares in London. Have a great day.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)