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In Japan, Preparedness is Way of Life; Japan, South Korea Sign Military Intelligence Sharing Pact; Donald Trump Taps South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for UN Ambassadorship; Claims of Chemical Weapon Attacks on Both Sides of Syrian Conflict. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired November 23, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:23] IVAN WATSON, HOST: I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream.

Tteam Trump adds a new name with reports he's picked an ambassador to the United Nations. This as the president-elect walks back some of his

campaign rhetoric.

Also, Iraqi forces surround Mosul, a major ISIS stronghold. We'll have a live report straight ahead.

And two Asian allies forge a new military pact to combat regional threats, but not everyone is happy with the deal between Japan and South Korea.

Now we begin with -- now we begin with a major revelation on Donald Trump's transition to the White House. A source tells CNN Trump has chosen South

Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to be the next United Nations ambassador.

Haley endorsed Trump rival Marco Rubio during her state's primary. But a month before the election, she said she would support Trump even though she

was, quote, not a fan.

We've also heard some startling declarations from Trump as he sat down for an interview with The New York times. CNN's Sara Murray has the

highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump now suggesting he won't push for Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted over her

private e- mail server or dealings within the Clinton Foundation. In an interview with "The New York Times," Trump saying, "I don't want to hurt

the Clintons. I really don't. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways."

And while it may be up to Trump's Justice Department to make the final call on the matter, the tone is a sharp departure from the one he struck on the

trail.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: She deleted the e-mails. She has to go to jail.

If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.

MURRAY: Trump also hinting he has changed his mind on waterboarding and now says he might not abandon the International Climate Accord, saying he has

an open mind to it.

Trump trying to brush off repeated questions about how he'll ensure his actions as president won't benefit his businesses, saying, "In theory, I

could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly. There's never been a case like this." Refusing to concede that he should sell his

businesses and adding, "The law is totally on my side. The president can't have a conflict of interest." Trump reiterating that he will step back,

leaving the Trump Organization for his children to run.

TRUMP: I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. But is that a blind trust? I don't know.

MURRAY: But that, too, pose a problem since his daughter, Ivanka, has already been part of the meetings with foreign officials, since her father

became president-elect. Trump complaining, "If it were up to some people, I would never, ever see my daughter, Ivanka, again."

And making the case for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to have a role in his administration, maybe as a special envoy to the Mideast. Trump

boasting, "I would love to be the one who made peace with Israel and the Palestinians. That would be such a great achievement."

Trump also trying to distance himself from the support of neo-Nazis after this video surfaced of white supremacists cheering him on with Nazi

salutes, just blocks from the White House.

RICHARD SPENCER, NATIONAL POLICY INSTITUTE: Hail Trump. Hail our people. Hail victory.

MURRAY: Trump denouncing the group, saying, "Of course, I disavow and condemn them. It's not a group I want to energize. And if they are

energized, I want to look into it and find out why."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: And Sara Murray will join us live a little later on in News Stream to discuss the Trump transition, so stay with the program for that live

report.

Now, many of the tweets coming from that New York Times interview Tuesday were from

political reporter Maggie Haberman. She has covered his campaign for the newspaper. And she is a CNN political analyst.

Haberman described the moment that Trump walked into The New York Times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE HABERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Trump came in, you know, he shook everyone's hands. He moved around the table. There were I guess about 20

people there. He sat down sort of very stiff. He had his arms folded almost like he was waiting for either some kind of blowback or waiting to

say something. And he did criticize our coverage pretty forcefully. It was not nasty in tone, it was not aggressive, but he did say he felt that

The Times had been incredibly unfair of him, the most unfair of anyone.

I have heard him, to be clear, make that kind of accusation against The Washington Post, as well, at various points in the campaign. And then he

basically moved on and he took a number of questions. The most surprising thing that he said was on climate change, where he appeared to at least be

open to the possibility of the Paris accords, where he said he thinks there's quote, unquote, connectivity between humans and the change in

environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: That's CNN political analyst and New York Times political reporter Maggie Haberman speaking there.

Now, let's move on to Iraq, where Iraqi-led forces claim to be gaining ground on their offensive on Mosul. They have announced that the ISIS-held

city is now fully surrounded.

The news comes as paramilitary forces fight to recapture a strategic ISIS stronghold to the west of Mosul. Now, this video reportedly shows a Shia-

led unit moving through a village near the Tal Afar air base. The offensive began in October and CNN has now obtained some of the causality

numbers from the fighting in and around Mosul.

Now CNN's Phil Black, he joins us now from Irbil, not that far from Mosul. Good to see you, Phil. Can you tell us about these reports that Mosul may

now be completely surrounded by Iraqi government and allied militia forces?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CO RRESPONDENT: Yeah, Ivan, so we knew that Iraqi forces had pretty much closed in on the north, south, and east, as

well, and now these paramilitary groups in the west say they have closed off the circle, if you like, that Mosul is now shut off. It is significant

because it means that the ISIS forces within are in theory now isolated. They can't retreat across the border into Syria in ISIS controlled

territory there, nor can they be resupplied by that route.

So, significant, but it does not mean that the fall of Mosul is imminent, because there's still a lot of fighting to be done in the areas around the

city itself and there is, of course, the main fight still to come, which is on the streets of Mosul.

From house to house, street to street, that close quarters fighting that we've already started to see in the east of the city and already started to

see just how hard and difficult that has been for the Iraqi forces that have penetrated the built-up area of the city there. Their advances have

been slowed incredibly because the ISIS resistance was simply is just so strong. They

are prepared. They are really committed to stopping this. And it appears that the Iraqi forces themselves have been taking some pretty serious

causalities through the course of this battle -- Ivan.

WATSON: And what can you tell us about the cost, the causalities, as a result of this kind of inch by inch, block by block, advance into the city?

BLACK: We can't tell you anything official, because the Iraqi officials simply won't talk numbers, they say, while the operation is still ongoing.

We can tell you what we've seen. Just this morning, we were at a very forward medical point, a triage center if you like, a makeshift location

just inside Mosul. And while we were there we saw a steady stream of injured women, children, men -- so civilians -- and, of course, soldiers,

as well.

We also saw at least four people who died because of their injuries. We visited this location before and seen very similar things there.

What we're also being told by hospitals here in Irbil is that they get around 90 injured people a day from Mosul, a mix of civilians and soldiers,

so it all backs up this anecdotal stuff we're hearing about just how difficult the fight is. This street by street battle in the middle of a

very dense urban population.

Advances are being made, but then even once the Iraqi forces take ground, they don't have to

fight to clear and hold that territory, as well. And all of this, as I say, points to the very likely fact

that taking Mosul completely, clearing it from ISIS, well that's not going to happen quickly, Ivan.

WATSON: Phil, it's just kind of appalling to hear people, civilians, who have been living under ISIS domination for several years now, now suffering

these kinds of causalities in the effort to try to liberate that city. Thank you very much for your update. And I know you'll keep watching about

the ongoing battle there in Mosul. That's Phil Black live from Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan to the northeast of Mosul.

Searching now to neighboring Syria where claims and counterclaims of chemical weapons being used in Syria by both sides of the civil war.

Russia says rebels in eastern Aleppo used chlorine and white phosphorous on attacks on the

army and civilians, but on the other side this video was released by the Aleppo media center. It says it shows a war plane dropping a barrel bomb

containing chlorine gas. You see that green puff of smoke there.

And in another video the group says this is the aftermath of an attack, city streets filled with

choking toxic gas.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Aleppo just within the past week. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is following developments in Syria from neighboring

Jordan and joins us now from Amman. Good to see you, Jomana.

Can you tell us more about these allegations -- we're not hearing them for the first time -- about possible chemical weapons use during this grinding

siege of Aleppo?

[08:10:31] JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not the first time. And over the past week, Ivan, we've been hearing from the

Syrian regime and also from their Russian allies saying these claims, basically, that the rebel forces have used chemicals. They say chlorine

and white phosphorous in their attacks on civilian areas of western Aleppo, that part of Aleppo that's controlled by regime, in addition on

attacks on the Syrian military.

What they say -- they claim they have evidence. They say that they have fragments of shells containing traces of these chemicals and they have

asked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the OPCW, to investigate these incidents. And we heard last night from the OPCW

saying that they had received this request and they are asking the Russians to provide them with this alleged evidence, saying that it's too dangerous

around Aleppo and they are asking that these samples be provided to them either in their headquarters in The Hague or in Damascus.

And as you mentioned, at the same time over this past week we have had several videos emerging from rebel-held eastern Aleppo showing the

aftermath of alleged chemical attacks, according to activists, medical workers, residents we've spoken to on the ground in eastern Aleppo. They

say that there have been several incidents where barrel bombs, these indiscriminate barrel bombs have been dropped on civilian neighborhoods and

in some cases they say they contained chlorine gas.

In one incident, Ivan, they mentioned a family of six, a father and mother and four children who were killed on Friday in one of those alleged

attacks. And, of course, we also saw a heartbreaking video of a boy who was about 10 who survived one of those alleged attacks.

Now, of course, this is not the first time in the Syrian conflict that we have had these claims coming out and, of course, the United Nations and

international investigation continues into these allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

We saw back in August the United Nations and the OPCW did say that they had evidence of the use of chemical weapons several times in Syria, yet no one

has been held accountable for these attacks and we continue to hear these allegations of them recurring yet again in Syria.

WATSON: No one has been held accountable and this conflict just keeps grinding on and on.

Jomana Karadsheh live from Amman doing the difficult job of trying to make sense of the atrocities and the potential war crimes that are apparently

being conducted on a daily basis in this awful Syrian civil war. Thank you, Jomana.

Let's move to Asia now, where in South Korea more fallout from a scandal surrounding president Park Geun-hye and the country's justice minister and

a presidential aide. They have both offered their resignations.

President Park has not said whether she will accept them. They were handed in after prosecutors said they would investigate as the president -- they

would investigate, rather, the president as a suspect in a growing corruption scandal.

Three people with ties to Ms. Park have been indicted.

That scandal did not stop the president from signing a new military pact with Japan. The two have agreed to sharing intelligence, especially on

North Korea. But as Paula Hancocks reports, this has sparked protests.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They were once bitter enemies, but Japan and South Korea this Wednesday have signed an historic

agreement, but there are many people who are simply not happy about it. It is a military intelligence sharing pact, which effectively means that Japan

and South Korea can share information or data, satellite images, that have a military usage. The reason for this deal, they say, is to try and counter

the North Korean threat.

Now, from the South Korean point of view, the defense ministry says it makes sense for them for the very simple fact Japan spends more on its

national defense, so it has more capability. It has more information, which Seoul could use.

And from Japan's point of view, the foreign minister said it's a very important deal because it

allows a faster and smoother exchange of security information.

But there are many who are not happy with this deal. We saw protests as the deal was being signed on the streets outside the defense ministry here

in Seoul, and the reason for that is there are many anti-Japanese sentiments which linger here in South Korea. South Korea was occupied by

Japan for 35 years during the first half of the 20th Century and some bitterness does remain, some territorial disputes still remain between the

two countries as well.

And then when you add to that the political arena. You have opposition leaders, opposition parties, slamming President Park Geun-hye for pushing

this deal through, as they see it, because they say she doesn't have the power or the legitimacy to do that at this point. President Park is in the

middle of a corruption scandal, which has gripped this nation. Prosecutors say

they want to investigate her as a suspect in this scandal, and we've seen hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Seoul calling

for her resignation.

President Park has apologized twice. So at this point there are many people who are against

the deal.

But take out the emotions, experts say it makes sense when you're trying to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities, it's best to have

all the available information.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:16:01] WATSON: Now North Korea's closest ally, China, is among those critical of the deal. China's foreign ministry says the agreement adds a

new unsafe and unstable element for northeast Asia, not in keeping with the peaceful development of the Korean peninsula.

In Britain, the man charged with the murder of British parliamentarian Joe Cox has been found guilty of the killing.

41-year-old Cox was shot and stabbed on the street after meeting constituents near Leeds last

June. The labor MP was a staunch supporter of Britain staying in the European Union. Her death came just days before the Brexit referendum

stunned the nation. 53-year-old Thomas Mair was also found guilty of possessing a firearm and a dagger.

Now stay with CNN. We'll have much more analysis on Trump's pick for United Nations

ambassador. We'll also explore the message he may be trying to send by promoting a former rival.

Plus, disaster drills in Japan. They take on new urgency after Tuesday's big quake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back to CNN News Stream broadcasting live from Hong Kong. I'm Ivan Watson. Thank you for joining us.

Now we're going to return now to our top story. It's a major development on who will serve in Donald Trump's new administration. A source tells CNN

that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, that she will be Trump's pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The official announcement is

expected later on Wednesday.

But the pick may come as a surprise to some. Trump and Haley had a contentious relationship during the campaign, and to help explain more

about that, CNN's Sara Murray, she joins me now live.

So, what kind of message is the president-elect trying to send with this latest reported appointment?

[08:20:04] MURRAY: Well, I think one of the things they wanted to make clear is that Donald Trump isn't just flirting with the notion of naming

past critics to serve alongside him, he's actually following through with it now. Multiple sources are saying that she's going to be his pick for

ambassador to the United Nations and she has had many harsh words for Donald Trump throughout the

campaign.

Now, the two met in person. Obviously, they were able to bury the hatchet on some of this stuff, but it is an indication that Trump isn't just paying

lip service to the idea that he wants different perspectives surrounding him, including people who may disagree with him.

I think the other thing is, it's clear the criticism of Donald Trump's cabinet so far, the notion that they are loyalists, that they are mostly

older white men, is resonating. And so they are trying to diversify some of their cabinet picks, as well, and Nikki Haley does that. She's a woman,

obviously, but she's also the daughter of Indian immigrants.

WATSON: Sara, can you help me out here? Just a few hours before Donald Trump went to meet with the editorial staff at The New York Times, he

tweeted the visit was going to be canceled. Then he goes there, and if you read the transcripts, it sounds like he was polite and it was a cordial

meeting. He handled some tough questions. And it just seems like a very different version of Trump the candidate that we saw for the better part of

two years.

You covered him on the campaign trail. What version of Trump are you seeing? How do you explain these very kind of almost personas that come

out from him from one day to the next?

MURRAY: Well, I do think he has been more muted in his public appearances since becoming the president-elect. I think sort of the gravity and the

enormity of the job is settling in around him and he's, frankly, just been busy trying to build a government and flesh out his cabinet. So, I think

that's part of it.

But one of the things about Donald Trump is we really don't have a great grasp on how he's going to govern once he's actually in the White House.

He said a lot of bombastic things on the campaign trail. You know, he called for bringing back waterboarding, said he was going to throw Hillary

Clinton behind bars, and in The New York Times interview he softened his position on both of those and seems to maybe be changing his mind when it

comes to the effectiveness of tactics like waterboarding.

So I think it's an open question to see how Donald Trump's mind is going to change from campaign Trump to President-elect Trump to White House Trump

and whether having all these new voices in the mix, people who were critical of him during the campaign, people who frankly weren't

even willing to meet with him when he was just a candidate, whether those voices are going to shape his policies and his views once he's in the White

House.

You know, you he is going to argue for better or for worse on that, but I do think we're at a position where we don't exactly know what a President

Donald Trump will do and we're all sort of standing by and waiting.

WATSON: And what about these two other subjects he discussed? One of them being potential

conflicts of influence with his business empire and the position in the White House, and the other on this apparent neo-nazi rally that took place

in recent days in Washington, where people did the Hitler salute and yelled "hail Trump." What did he say about those issues?

MURRAY: Well, that's right. He was asked about that, particularly sort of white supremacists

rallying behind him and that particular conference and I think one of the things that's been frustrating to people who want to see Donald Trump

denounce these groups, which he did in the interview, he Denounced the groups and he said, you know, he doesn't know what is energizing these

people and he wants to look into that.

But I think one of the frustrations is that people see him get on Twitter and criticize Saturday Night Live, they see him criticize the Broadway

musical Hamilton to his millions of followers on his Twitter account and they don't see him sort of taking that proactive approach when it comes to

white supremacist groups. He sort of waits until he gets asked about it in an

interview and says I don't want anything to do with those people. And so I think that's been a little bit of a point of frustration for

people who were hoping for a vigorous response and rejection from the president-elect.

WATSON: All right, Sara Murray, thank you for your insight on the president-elect Donald Trump.

Now, the UK is getting a glimpse of its first economic blueprint since the decision to leave the European Union. Britain's finance minister, Philip

Hammond, has unveiled -- has just unveiled his much anticipated autumn statement.

The focus is on raising the country's living wage and injecting more than $1.7 billion into affordable housing, fixing public finances is crucial as

the UK gears up for Brexit.

Now, survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime are praising a court decision against two

senior leaders. The court upheld their life sentences for crimes against humanity. Both men had appealed their convictions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAN SOCHEAT, SURVIVOR (through translator): I can accept this verdict, but if I compare it with what we have suffered, this verdict is little

justice for me. Why? Because we were tortured, suffered mass force eviction, families were separated, went through forced labor and

starvation. These are such big things for my family and all other Cambodian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:05] WATSON; At least 1.7 million people are believed to have died during the Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s.

Japan was well prepared when an earthquake hit off the coast of Honshu Island. The country sits on the so-called Pacific ring of fire, and as

CNN's Alexandra Field found out, nothing is left to chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a country where readiness is deeply ingrained in the country because it's prone to earthquakes and this

is a place where tsunami warnings are not uncommon.

People are actually spending a national holiday practicing with emergency responders for what

they would do in the worst-case scenario.

Here in Japan, this is the sound of alarm. It's something that everybody recognizes. It signals that there's an emergency under way, it could be a

natural disaster, it could be a manmade disaster, but it calls people to action.

Drills like this take on added urgency in the aftermath of a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan, it triggered tsunami waves

that reached nearly a meter and a half. It also recalled for a lot of people the memories of the disaster of 2011. 20,000 people were killed

after a major earthquake and a massive tsunami, followed by a meltdown at a nuclear power plant.

A local official running the drill tells us, "everyone thinks about a disaster and prevention when a quake occurs, but the years pass by. It's

human nature to forget about the acuteness of a threat."

The disaster in 2011 and a major earthquake in 1995 both prompted major efforts to improve the country's infrastructure and to reinforce buildings

that could be vulnerable. It also triggered improvements to the early warning system, which now depends on mobile phones in order to let people

know they could be in danger. That's a system that's designed to save lives.

People here hope they've already seen the worst crisis of their lifetime, but in Japan, it doesn't stop them from preparing for whatever could be

next.

Alexandra Field, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: You're watching News Stream. Still ahead, a standoff in the U.S. over an oil pipeline through land that Native Americans do not want

disturbed. We take a closer look at what's fueling the Dakota pipeline controversy. Stay with the program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:30] WATSON: In the days after Donald Trump's victory, we've seen protests on the streets of major U.S. cities, but that's not the only

unrest the country's facing. What had been a quiet corner of the Midwest is now the epicenter of an ecological standoff and our Isha Sesay has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the freezing plains of North Dakota, a bitter battle that shows little sign of abating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nothing more than ecological racism.

SESAY: One side calls it essential infrastructure.

CROWD: Water is life!

SESAY: The other calls it a danger to health and entire communities. This is the Dakota Access Pipeline. A $3.7 billion project intended to connect

and a project destined to divide.

Here is the plan, to pump crude oil from the rural and energy-rich north central U.S. to Illinois, more than 1200 miles to the east. From there, it

can be transported to refineries on the eastern seaboard and the Gulf Coast. The pipeline is slated to run under the Missouri River, and the

standing rock Sioux tribe, whose land borders the route said it would affect its drinking water supply while putting communities further

downstream at risk from oil spills and contamination.

Protests have gone on for months, but have recently turned violent. 400 protesters facing off against well-armed police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were met by brutal force with water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets and in an unbelievable amount. It was

horrific. It was a horrific scene.

SESAY: But police say they are facing an ongoing riot. These images published by the North Dakota Joint information Center purport to show

improvised weapons used by the protesters. Construction of the pipeline had been delayed while the army corps of engineers engages in further talks

with the Native American community. And as anger bubbles nationwide, this saga clearly has many miles yet to run.

Isha Sesay, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Earlier, we heard from Michael Knudsen. He's a coordinator for the Standing Rock medic and healer council. He has attended recent

protests and calls the resulting violence a, quote, manmade, police perpetuated disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL KNUDSEN, STANDING ROCK MEDIC AND HEALER COUNCIL: This action, I can't say exactly what started, you know, the escalation. What we know is

that demonstrators, water protectors were intending to pull a truck off of the bridge to unblock the road, as this roadblock was preventing people

from traveling freely on a public highway and also preventing people from being evacuated in an emergency, with emergency services up that road.

So that was kind of the beginning. And then police showed up. And what I saw was the escalation from there. Water cannons for eight hours straight

on Sunday night, as well as rubber bullets, flash bang and concussion grenades shot directly at protesters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Police say more than 525 people have been arrested in connection with the protests

since they began months ago.

Now, we're going to move now to an unfolding situation in Israel, where wildfires continue to burn across central and northern Israel this very

hour. And some of them are now coming under control, we can report, thanks to the use of more than a dozen planes in addition to ground crews.

Oren Lieberman is outside Jerusalem.

And I believe you have a view of some of the smoke at least in the distance there, Oren. Can you bring us up to date with the latest on these forest

fires and what kind of threat they pose to communities there?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We were just outside of Jerusalem in a town called Nataf (ph), and this is where

firefighting forces are focusing efforts right now, because this and the area around us is where the fire remains out of control.

You can see what it's done to this area, scorched earth here. The home behind me right here is damaged as well as the home behind that, the fire

coming up the hill that we're standing on, burning anything green.

And as you can see here, melting anything plastic on this hill.

And although this area is no longer burning, it has spread to the hills around here. We'll show you some video from this area, again, this area is

called Nataf (ph) just outside of Jerusalem. What makes this difficult, especially right now, is that here in Israel it's supposed to be the rainy

season, but there hasn't been a drop of rain in more than two weeks, that means it's incredibly dry and the winds have been incredibly strong the

last couple of days.

So, even the smallest fire spreads quickly and in the few hours that we've been here we have

seen the fire spreading from one hill to another.

We'll take you to some video in northern Israel. This is a town called (inaudible). This is where 750 families are still evacuated, some 20 homes

there damaged or destroyed by the fire. That fire now under control, but the families not allowed to go back in yet.

So these fires spreading quickly. The police chief had warned it may get worse as the winds are

expected to stay up over the next few days. No rain in the forecast. As for what caused this yet, that's not where police are focusing efforts just

yet, but they have taken four people in for questioning, four workers on suspicion they may have started one of these fires out of negligence.

So, firefighters still working on getting this all under control. Ivan, in fact, we've seen four or five fire fighting aircraft around our air pretty

much all day today.

WATSON: All right, that's Oren Liebermann live from the scene of some of these forest fires

you could see clearly in the distance there. Oren, thank you very much for bringing us up to date and I know you'll be keeping a close eye on that

with your team there. Thank you very, very much.

Now, still ahead, from the boss to Miss Ross. The living legends who have just received America's highest civilian award. You won't want to miss

this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back to CNN's News Sream.

When Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay in 1997, it was so controversial that the announcement threatened to derail her career. Now almost 20 years

later she has been awarded America's highest civilian honor. She was just one of the personalities who received a presidential Medal of Freedom,

others include actors Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro, singers Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross, and basketball stars Michael Jordan, and Kareem

Abdul-Jabbar.

Barack Obama also highlighted the charitable work of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, while keeping things lighthearted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For two decades the Gates Foundation has worked to provide life saving medical care to millions.

These two have donated more money to charitable causes than anyone ever. Many years ago Melinda's mom told her an old saying, to know that even one

life has breathed easier because you lived, that is success. And by this, in just about any other measure, few in human history have been more

successful than these two impatient optimists.

Bruce Springsteen has been carrying the rest of us on his journey, asking us all what is the work for us to do in our short time here? I am the

president, he is the boss. And pushing 70, he's still laying down four- hour live sets. If you have not been at them, he is working, fire breathing rock n roll. So I thought twice about giving him a medal named

for freedom because we hope he remains, in his words, a prisoner of rock n roll for years to come.

When he was 5 years old, Michael Jordan nearly cut off his big toe with an ax. Back then his handles he needed a little work.

But think, if things had gone differently, Air Jordans might never have taken flight. I mean, you don't want to buy a shoe with, like, one toe

missing.

Ellen DeGeneres has a way of making you laugh about some thing rather than at someone, except when I danced on her show, she laughed at me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:41:44] WATSON: That's quite a gathering there.

Now, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres she persuaded fellow award winners to take part in the latest web craze, the mannequin challenge, where

participants stand still as if frozen, apparently, in the White House.

Now, the last segment in our program is a Twitter oops moment, and it briefly suspended -- the company briefly suspended its own CEO's account

late Tuesday.

Jack Dorsey went from having almost 4 million followers to just 145 when his account was first reinstated.

He tweeted out the suspension was an internal mistake, but that got people asking, how many other accounts might have been accidentally frozen in the

past? Suspending Twitter accounts has become a sensitive issue. The company is struggling to strike a balance between allowing free speech and

protecting its users from harassment.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can follow me @Ivancnn.

That is News Stream. I'm Ivan Watson. But don't go anywhere, World Sport with Christina Macfarlane is next.

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