Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Bidding Castro Farewell; Rocking the Football; Syria's Grand Assault; French Party Picks Fillon; Abuse Allegations on F.A.; Trump is Upset at Recount Efforts. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 28, 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: Bidding Castro farewell. Cubans prepare to honor the life of their long-time leader in a week of mourning and then they will say goodbye.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A grand assault. The Syrian government retakes key part of rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Our report say more than 500 civilians have been killed in less than two weeks.
CHURCH: Plus, rocking the football. England's Football Association investigate six abuse allegations from former players.
A live report for you just ahead.
HOWELL: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.
CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
HOWELL: Across Cuba, people are taking time to remember a former leader of that nation. A 21 gun salute will fire in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Early Monday, as well as next Sunday, the day of Castro's funeral.
CHURCH: Cannons will be going off several times a day Tuesday through Saturday and Castro's ashes will be paraded back along the root he and his rebels took to seize power, nearly 60 years ago.
But for all this planned by the government people on the streets in Cuba are reserved.
HOWELL: CNN's Ed Lavandera traveled to Cuba and has more on the move in Havana.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the streets of Havana, Cuba, a muted and subdued response to the news that Fidel Castro has died. We have seen this play out over the weekend. We have not seen an outpouring of grief for any kind of real emotion taking place on the streets. In many ways you get the sense that people are being very cautious
trying to figure out what they can and can't do, what they should or shouldn't do, that is something that Cubans here in Havana are trying to figure out, whereas the government says, it is officially beginning the process of a nine-day mourning period.
That will begin on Monday with the ashes and the remains of Fidel Castro who was cremated, Saturday morning not many hours after the official announcement was made Friday night that he had died at the age of 90.
There will be a procession of people who come to the Plaza of the Revolution. This is the plaza where folks have held mass and this is where tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Cubans are expected to appear and show and pay their respects.
After that the remains of Fidel Castro will be caravanned across the island from Havana to Santiago de Cuba on the far eastern edge of the island where that is Fidel Castro's remains will be interned on Sunday. So, this is the beginning of long week of memorialization of Fidel Castro.
And it has been interesting, the initial hours in the first day after Fidel Castro's death in state media, state-run television played very little about this news. It is just now where we're beginning to see a constant coverage on state sun television and the memorials that have been playing on the broadcast television here for quite some time. So, all of that beginning to play out here in Cuba.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Havana, Cuba.
CHURCH: The Canadian Prime Minister's condolences over Castro's death have drawn harsh criticism for ignoring the Cuban leader's human rights abuses. Part of Justin Trudeau those statements read, "Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century, a legendary revolutionary and orator. Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation. We join the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader."
But Mr. Trudeau stood by his choice of words. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: The fact is Fidel Castro had a deep and lasting impact on the Cuban people. It certainly was -- he certainly was polarizing figure, and there certainly were significant concerns around human rights.
That's something that I'm open about and that I've highlighted. But on the passing of his death I expressed a statement that highlighted the deep connection between the people of Canada and the people of Cuba.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: And that is stark difference between the relationship with the United States and Cuba -- Canada did have a better relationship.
[03:05:02] CHURCH: Yes.
HOWELL: But Mr. Trudeau holding firm, you know, on his response.
CHURCH: Yes. The thing is a room makes to response across the globe.
HOWELL: Indeed. We're hearing from Cuban celebrities for the first time since Fidel Castro died.
CHURCH: Some say his death is a tough loss, but that it's up to the people of Cuba to honor the leader's ideas going forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMARA PORTUONDO, CUBAN SINGER (TRANSLATED): I'm really sad about the loss, very sad. But this is the reality of being born and dying. We would have liked to have him longer but that's not what happened. It was his time and it's a tough loss. Very, very tough.
JAVIER SOTOMAYOR, CUBAN ATHLETE: The way to defend our revolution has been to achieve A lot of success by showing the world that we are capable of and that's what we're going to continue to do today. And into the future, despite the absence of the commandant because he has left physically, but his legacy will always be in our hearts and our thoughts and our actions.
ANA FIDELIA QUIROT, CUBAN ATHLETE: I'm going to remember Fidel very fondly, very lovingly. He's not here physically, but I'll say it again, he's in the hearts of the Cuban people in those in a lot of countries, in Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the whole world. Fidel will be remembered for all of history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, Havana may be quiet, but little Havana in Miami, Florida is anything but Cuban exiles have been celebrating since Castro's passing.
HOWELL: Many hope that this will bring a freer future to their country.
Boris Sanchez has this report for us.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to believe from the response that we've seen here in Miami exile community and the response that we've seen in Cuba, that both communities are responding to the death of the same person, an extremely stark contrast, as we step out of the way, we're standing here in Calle Ocho and Cafe Versailles this is the heart of the exile community in Miami.
The demonstrations are still going, they had a D.J. they're playing music a short while ago. The crowd noticeably smaller than it was Saturday and Friday night when the news of Fidel passing away first broke. I should tell you, Elian Gonzalez. The boy that was center of a
custody battle between his family here in the United States and his father in Cuba, has come out and spoken favorably about Fidel and reflecting upon his passing away, saying that he was a father figure to him.
Of course, Elian Gonzalez being a central figure in what many saw as saga drama between the United States and Cuba. His voice is certainly an interesting one. Here is him again reflecting on the passing of Fidel Castro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIAN GONZALEZ, CHILD RESCUED OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA (TRANSLATED): He is a father who is like my father, I wanted to show him everything I achieved. That he would be proud of me. That's how it was with Fidel. If I learned something and wanted to show him and there are still many things I want to show him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Of course, Elian Gonzalez was forcibly taken from his family's home here in Miami and sent back to Cuba. People here don't really care for him as much as they use to when he was a child. A lot of it had to do with the fact that they see him as a propaganda tool for the Castro regime as a prop, who was not really an objective voice when it comes to valuing Castro's legacy.
They also say it's hypocritical that his mother and some of his other piece cast his hopes and dreams into the ocean with to try to escape Cuba would try to get them off the island only for him to fully embrace the exact system that his mother died trying to get him out of.
Despite that, celebration here continues in Miami, it will continue probably for the next few days. Though, it will likely continue to diminish as we've seen today.
Boris Sanchez, CNN, Little Havana.
HOWELL: Boris Sanchez, thank you.
Visitors to Cuba will likely increase as the death of Fidel Castro, for people living in the United States commercial airlines are already adding Cuba to their routes. Both United Airlines and Delta Airlines will begin flights this week and others have been flying there since summer.
But here's the catch, tourism to Cuba by U.S. citizens it's still against the law. There are a dozen exception that you can look into including athletic competition, academic research, and visiting a close relative.
The U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to reverse the loosening of travel restrictions to Cuba, which again was relaxed under the current President Barack Obama. CHURCH: A tide could be turning in Syria's brutal civil war; regime
troops and their allies broke through rebel lines over the weekend and pushed into two neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo. That is a milestone for government forces who haven't held a significant part of eastern Aleppo in more than four years.
[03:09:59] HOWELL: The offensive was backed by air strikes and artillery. Civilians have been fleeing, some taking shelters at government held areas. Others tell CNN they have nowhere left to go.
CHURCH: And CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is tracking developments in Syria from neighboring Jordan. She joins us now live with the latest. So, Jomana, what has been the impact so far of Syrian regime forces entering eastern Aleppo?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it would seem, Rosemary, that regime forces and the allied Shia militia and other militias under this heavy air cover have advanced much faster than many had anticipated, of course, as you mentioned, at least, two districts have been recaptured by the Syrian regime and these allies forces.
There have been claims by the regime on their state media of more districts of northeastern section of the besieged eastern Aleppo being recaptured by the regime. These are claims, so far, by state media that we are working to verify.
It is very difficult to confirm the situation on the ground if fighting is ongoing in these areas or if they've recaptured them. It is also very difficult to assess the impact, Rosemary, on the civilians that more than quarter of million people living in eastern Aleppo.
There have been reports, estimates, anywhere from hundreds of 2,000 of people who have reportedly fled their homes because of this new wave of fighting. Some of the people as the fighting got closer to their homes, moved into other rebel-held districts.
But also some, according to reports from state media, but also from a monitoring group and others saying that these people have had to even flee to regime controlled western Aleppo, something that was unthinkable for so many people just a few weeks ago.
And when you talk to those who remain, they're absolutely terrified of what might be coming next, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Jomana, just a few weeks ago, you spoke with a mother and her young daughter, who had been using Twitter to send out tweets relaying to the world her harrowing experience, particularly this young girl in eastern Aleppo. We see this image, now of her, bring us up to date on the situation, this little girl and her family.
KARADSHEH: This is seven-year-old Abana Albed, her mother fought over the past few weeks, started tweeting, trying to get the world's attention to the point of the people of eastern Aleppo doing that through her little daughter who would send out these videos, these messages from eastern Aleppo giving us a glimpse into what life was like for them under siege and under constant bombardment.
And over the past few days, you could see that the situation was even getting worse than what it has been for them, Rosemary, some of the tweets showing bombs falling so close to their home. And yesterday, we saw this very chilling message coming out from Fatima (Ph) pretty much saying, good-bye in this message to the world.
I messaged her a few hours later to check on her and her family, and she told us that their home had been hit by an air strike. The family was OK, but absolutely devastated by what had happened. They were on the street waiting for this bombardment to stop. They didn't know where they would go next.
And I asked -- I asked Fatima if she had a message to the world, Rosemary, and she said that enough has been said, the world has watched and has been silenced. She had nothing else to say.
CHURCH: It is simply horrifying. We see this family this young girl, really she is the face of so many other families like this dealing with this day-to-day. And Jomana Karadsheh bringing us up to date on the situation there in Aleppo from her vantage point in Amman, Jordan where it is 10.13 in the morning. Many thanks to you, Jomana.
HOWELL: And politics in France, Francois Fillon will lead the French conservative party in next year's presidential election. We'll look at the former prime minister's unexpected rise to the top of his party, ahead.
CHURCH: Also, coming up, Donald Trump apparently is not content to have won the U.S. election by electoral votes. Now he's claiming he won the popular vote as well. Though, without anything any evidence to back that up.
We're back in a moment.
[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sports headlines.
Sunday in Abu Dhabi mark race number 21 in the end of the Formula 1 season and a new world champion. Nico Rosberg happy runner up to his stadium team mate Lewis Hamilton for the last two seasons. All Rosberg needed was a podium finish to take the title. Hamilton would take the Grand Prix win. But Rosberg sealed the world championship with a second place finish and first world title of his career.
Another title to be decided on Sunday was part of the Davis Cup. This time in Zagreb, post Croatia came into the final day with a 2-1 lead over Argentina. In the first match the Croatian Marin Cilic were taken early two sets to love lead over Juan Martin del Potro but the Argentine would storm back to win the last three sets to take the five set thriller and level the finals at two.
And in the final match, Federico Delbonis would win it in straight set to give Argentina's its first ever Davis Cup title. And the Premier League on Sunday, Manchester United took it on West
Ham at Old Trafford. West Ham would strike first and just second minute. But United veterans striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will equalize 20 minutes later. United's manager Jose Mourinho got dismissed for the second time this month for kicking a water bottle in frustration. It would end 1-all.
And that's a look at all your world sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
More conservative voters in France have picked Francois Fillon to represent their party in next year's presidential election. The former prime minister was the frontrunner after taking the lead in the first round of voting last week. He remained on top in Sunday's runoff with about 66 percent of the vote.
HOWELL: His opponent Alain Juppe has been a pillar of the French conservative party for many decades. He has conceded defeat and now pledges to back Fillon.
Just a month ago, Fillon was considered an unlikely bet for the presidency, but he won voters with a very polished performance on television.
CHURCH: Yes. And CNN's Melissa Bell has more on the man who was defied expectations.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: With those words, the upset of the republican primary became clear and Francois Fillon was thrust into the limelight.
Until last Sunday, no one had expected him to get past the first round. With a beer, he toasted to the fact that he had beaten all six other candidates, including his former boss.
For five years, Francois Fillon served as the flamboyant Nicolas Sarkozy's relativity's self-effacing Prime Minister. The job, a reward for backing Sarkozy during his campaign for the Elysee.
After the right lasted in 2012, Francois Fillon slipped from the limelight representing Paris as a member of parliament, but also getting away from the capital, to the grassroots with a three-year campaign across the country that would ultimately see him defy the polls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:20:02] JEROME CHARTER, FRANCOIS FILLON'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The only part of the poll that really mattered were the trends, and the main trend was that for weeks, Francois Fillon was the only candidate who was constantly gaining support.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BELL: But after his victory in the first round, Francois Fillon still
had his work cut out and this time very much in the media spotlight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCOIS FILLON, FRENCH CONSERVATIVE PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (TRANSLATED): What I refuse is the distribution of Christmas presents, promises that made no sense, they cannot be financed in a country that let me remind you is just about the most indebted country of the developed world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: His right wing such as economic program went down well with many on the right, ahead of the second round he met with those members of parliament who supported his call to scrap the 35-hour week take on the unions and liberal leis, France's labor market, all things his ultimate rival the more moderate, Alain Juppe said could not be done.
By the time the two men met for their final debate on Thursday, the campaign had taken a decidedly unpleasant turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAIN JUPPE, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (TRANSLATED): You cannot ask civil service to work more and earn less. This is what makes us different from one another.
FILLON (TRANSLATED): OK. This is a major issue. This means Alain Juppe does not really wish to change things. He's a man of the system, with which he simply wants to tinker.
JUPPE (TRANSLATED): Well, I believe that this is just you second guessing other people's motivations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: In the end, Francois Fillon proved more popular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNO CAUTRES, POLITICAL ANALYST: The very good points also the tactics in the starting of Francois Fillon was a capacity of Francois Fillon to talk to different targets of the right wing. The liberal right wing that wants less tax, less states, less civil servants, but also the traditional Catholic right wings also the adoption, also gay marriage, but also the most conservative part of the right wing that wants to protect France from the outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Francois Fillon will now be taking that platform to the broader electorate, in the hope that it will allow his party to see all fought the rooting socialist and the increasingly popular far right.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris. HOWELL: Well, let's bring in CNN's Jim Bittermann, live in Paris this
hour, to talk more about the election process there.
Jim, so let's talk about Fillon, this victory came as a surprise over Juppe who was considered by many to be a safe pair hands. Fillon during the debate I remember he was the best pick, he described himself as the person to institute significant change. Do you get the sense that Fillon be the candidate this that differs greatly from Juppe?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think he will be. There's no question about it. He's got some very conservative positions on not only social issues but economic issues. He's promised to slash a 500,000 bureaucratic jobs, government jobs and 100 billion euros from the French budget.
And as he pointed out on that sound clip that Melissa had in her package, basically France is one of the most indebted countries in the western hemisphere, so as such he's going to be very different that way.
He's also going to tread in a lot of the same territory as the extreme right. As Marine Le Pen, the extreme right candidate in these candidates. However, it should be said, too, that because of these strong right wing positions, he may, in some ways, stimulate the regrouping of the left.
This morning we heard the leader of the socialist party saying, hey, listen, it's time for this, you know, cause the warfare within the party to stop within the socialist party to stop we get to get together and look at what the threat is from the right with all the socially conservative and economically conservative issues being talked about.
So he could, in fact, serve to coalesce the left, but he would also pounce the right -- and left I should say, at this point it's very unpopular, according to public opinion poll that came out this morning, in fact, President Hollande, if he were to run and we're not sure that he's going to run, but if he were to run, would come in in fifth place in the first round of the elections next May.
HOWELL: Wow. You touched on this a bit, Jim, but I wanted to push further just a bit and look at the possible comparison to get your take on it, in the United States you'll remember the polls they favored Hillary Clinton, but failed to take into account a part of the electorate that hadn't participated before in elections.
There was a similar surprise to the United Kingdom with Brexit the far right candidate and in France also, Marine Le Pen is suggesting that these latest trend would favor her if up against Fillon, so could this be a similar situation.
BITTERMANN: Definitely it could be, George, especially when you look at the way that polls should say, kind of missed that he hear. I mean, Fillon back in the beginning of November was polling in at about 10 percent. And in fact in the second round, he got 60 percent of the vote.
So, I mean, they were way off on picking him out of the crowd.
[03:24:59] I'll just add one more thing that with the Trump comparison, and that is the geopolitical impact of Fillon, if there's any place where they're doing a victory dance this morning about Fillon's victory outside of France, it's in Moscow, because Fillon is very close to Russia and very close to Putin.
And as a consequence, now, Moscow has potentially allies -- has allies certainly in Mr. Trump and potentially an ally in ally to Mr. Fillon if he were to be elected president. George?
HOWELL: Wow. You see many nations shifting to the right. And Jim, as you point out some of those shifts are favorable to Russia.
Jim Bittermann, live in Paris. Jim, thank you for the report.
And back in the United States, President-elect Donald Trump's inner circle is split over his consideration of Mitt Romney for secretary of state. Romney has sharply criticized Trump in the past, calling him a phony and a fraud.
One of Trump's top advisors says his supporters feel betrayed that Romney might now end up with the top post in Trump's candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I know there are other candidates being considered apart from the ones that are just being covered more commonly in the media, but apart from that, Governor Romney in the last four years, I mean, has he been around the globe doing something on behalf of the United States of which we're unaware.
I'm all for party unity, but I'm not sure that we have to pay for that with the secretary of state position. But again let me repeat, what Donald Trump decides, Kellyanne Conway and everybody else will respect.
It's just the backlash from the grassroots, I'm hearing from people who say, hey, my parents died penniless, but I gave $216 to Donald Trump's campaign and I would feel betrayed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The Politico web site reports that Vice President-elect is pushing for the Romney appointment. But Conway and others want the former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani to be the secretary of state.
CHURCH: On Monday, Trump resumes interviewing candidates for cabinet and staff positions in the Trump White House. But an effort to recount votes in several key states is likely to keep annoying him.
HOWELL: Well, it is. And for the latest on this, we turn to CNN's Ryan Nobles at Trump's resort in Florida. RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump has wrapped up his
holiday weekend here at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and although we didn't hear or see that much of the president-elect, he did make it clear how he feels about the recount effort underway by Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.
Trump is not happy with it. He tweeted 12 different times about this topic, more than he's tweeted about any topic since being elected president of the United States. At one point, he even suggested that he would have won the popular vote if the votes cast illegally were not involved.
Trump is particularly upset that the Clinton campaign has said they'll be involved in this recount. Their campaign counsel saying that they found no evidence that votes were cast inappropriately. But they want to rule in or rule out that possibility.
Now, Trump has a very busy one day plan, eight different people will come to Trump Tower and many of them could be potential candidates for his cabinets or administration. Among them the Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, he could potentially be the next secretary of Homeland Security.
And then Kathleen Hartnett White, she's the former Texas Commissioner on environmental quality, she is rumored to be considered to be the next administrator of the EPA. He still has many decisions to make, including who will become his next secretary of state.
Ryan Nobles, CNN, Palm Beach, Florida.
HOWELL: Ryan, thank you.
Now, to South Korea, the presidential scandal is threatening to paralyze the government there and now the president of the nation Park Geun-Hyei's attorney says that she cannot cooperate with prosecutor's request to question her face to face by Tuesday due to her busy scheduling.
CHURCH: Authorities are investigating Park as a suspect in a wide reaching corruption probe. Her friend has already been charged with abuse of power, fraud and coercion.
We're going to take a very short break here. We'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after this.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm rosemary church.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
Cuba marking the life of long-time leader Fidel Castro with week of tributes. Twenty-one gun salute will be held in Havana and Santiago de Cuba on Monday, and again on Sunday before his funeral. On Wednesday, Castro's ashes will begin a ceremonial journey across the island following in reverse the route that he traveled to power in 1959.
CHURCH: Syrian regime forces have pushed into two neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo. It appears to be the start of a long threatened assault to seize the area for rebels, state media report government troops are in full control of the neighborhoods, but activists and residence say only paths are in regime hands.
HOWELL: In France, Francois Fillon will lead the conservative party and the presidential election next year. He defeated Alain Juppe, another former Prime Minister who conceded after Sunday's runoff. Fillon may face the far right national front leader Marine Le Pen in next year's vote.
England's Football Association is launching an internal review of child abuse allegations from former players. An independent legal counsel will assist in this investigation. The chief executive of the association says than more than 20 football players come forward with claims of being sexually abused while playing the sport as children.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin is outside the football association's headquarters in London and joins live this hour with the very latest. Erin, first of all, what does the F.A. say about this investigation, what does it consist of, what are they looking for?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, over the weekend, the F.A. put out a statement sort of detailing the focus of this investigation, that statement saying the F.A. will be looking at what the F.A. do during the relevant time period. They'll also be looking at individual football clubs what they knew during this time period as well as what should have been done.
They'll also be conducting an audit of current practice to make sure this thing -- sort of thing never happens again.
[03:34:58] They'll also be working closely alongside police, several police forces here in the United Kingdom have launched their own investigations as has several football clubs, including crew this after over 20 football players came forward with allegations of sexual abuse as children.
And the F.A also setting up its own hotline, a safe place for victims to call for further whistleblowing so far, George, the numbers show that over 100 people have placed phone calls to that hotline.
HOWELL: These players who have come forward, Erin, what more are we hearing from them.
MCLAUGHLIN: That's right. What we're seeing right now is sort of a cascade effect, we've heard from one former usually player, Jason Dunford, he is one of the players to waive his right to anonymity. He says he expects more players to come forward. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON DUNFORD, FORMER MANCHESTER CITY YOUTH PLAYER: It's overwhelming, this is getting bigger by the hour. The amount of response, I've had the support, we've had, and the recent players, ex- professional players who have been contacting me over the last 24 hours who are on the verge, hopefully, of coming forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLAUGHLIN: Now Dunford came forward with his story on Friday. He's alleging abuse in the hands of former coach and scout Barry Bennell who is at the center of many of these allegations. Bennell was convicted and jailed three times for child abuse, no arrests so far, have been made in connection with the current wave of allegations, George.
HOWELL: Erin McLaughlin, live for us in London this hour. Erin, thank you for the reporting.
CHURCH: And for more perspective on this, we are joined by Keir Radnedge of World Soccer magazine. Thank you so much for talking with us.
So, just how far reaching and extensive is this problem of child abuse in football beyond the more than 20 players. We heard there are some 100 calls placed and what are the likely ramifications going forward, do you think?
KEIR RADNEDGE, WORLD SOCCER FORMER EDITOR: Well, in terms of that, I think there are going to be many, many came to which will come to light after the issue is actually open, finally. I know that there is inquiry of police investigations undergoing.
And you have to bear in mind also that this stretch is back over several decades, so that could be quite volume of history that's built up there that no one has talked about so far.
In terms of where this goes in the future, I think it must be acknowledged first, that a great deal of work has been done over the past few years in tightening up on as first child care security within all sports in Britain.
But obviously, there will be a new look of whether what is being done nowadays in terms of keeping young people safe is adequate.
CHURCH: Yes, and of course, as you point out, this goes back several decades, more than likely this covers other nations, other continents, so talk to us about what's likely to happen in Britain in terms of compensation. What will be the solutions for some of these people coming forward and just how extensive might this be on these other continents in these other nations, do you think?
RADNEDGE: Well I don't know -- I don't obviously, the British inquirer, the English inquirer can't go into anything that happens on other continent. I think what you will find is incidents and incidents being reported now or probably not only in football but in other sports, as well.
You know, because, obviously, the issue of sexual abuse of minors is an issue that goes across all boundaries having going not only in sports, you've seen in entertainment, as well.
So, in terms of compensation, I think you're talking there about a step that comes after criminal cases and that's another major step that will have to be undergone first.
CHURCH: All right, Keir Radnedge, thank you so much for talking with us. This is a problem, of course, we will keep a very close eye on the outcome of this and see what happens. Many thanks.
HOWELL: Still ahead here, how a second place finish on a fast track finally earned Nico Rosberg a Formula 1 title.
CHURCH: Also ahead, we'll have the latest on the weather system that's bringing severe flooding to parts of southern Europe. We're back in a moment.
[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back. German race car driver Nico Rosberg is the new world champion of Formula 1, he clinched the title after finishing second in the finals race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
CHURCH: Or CNN's Amanda Davies explains winning the championship was a long time coming for Rosberg.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Nico Rosberg thanked his team for making his childhood dream come true. It's a dream that so often over the years has ended in disappointment with his long-time rival and more recently his team mate Lewis Hamilton finishing ahead of him.
Lewis did all he could to once again steal Nico's crown leading from the front and towards the end trying to back up his team mate to help Sebastian Vettel and mark for step in past much to the frustration of his team in the garage.
But in the end, the race sums up Nico's season. He did what he had to do when he needed to do it. Calm, reassured and diligence, nothing more and nothing less. True to asking permission from his team before he celebrated with doughnuts on the track, having finally won it just to make sure it was actually his world title, it couldn't be taken away.
Lewis will point to his 10-race wins that's enough in any other season to have seen and claim his fourth driver's championship. There are not many who argue with the fact that Lewis is the more naturally talented driver capable of the sensation.
But not many drivers would have put up with the years and years of being written off as second best to Lewis as Nico has -- he's worked back, he's worked hard and it's absolutely him here rightly celebrating becoming Formula 1's 33rd world champion.
Amanda Davies, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
CHURCH: Well, after nearly two months of no rain fall, millions across the drought for southern U.S. anxiously await some beneficial rain.
HOWELL: There is good news all the way. Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is here, rain on the way.
CHURCH: It's about time.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is about time. You know, the drought stricken nature of this guys, we've seen and smelled the smoke and the hays and the fire across parts of the southeast.
And this has really been expansive occurrence here to where it's actually worse than what is occurring across parts of southern California as far as the immense nature of how much drought is in place.
[03:45:07] And I just want to show you this. Because it is impressive when you take a look at some of the maps here of the deep trend, the extreme, the exceptional drought, all of northern Georgia, much of northern Alabama, parts of Tennessee, of course into North Carolina where we've had tremendous drought in place.
In fact, in the city of Atlanta, there's been weather records that have been kept since 1870s, if you do the math, that's over 50,000 days, the longest stretch of no rainfall in those 50,000 plus days was 39 days in a road with no rainfall.
Currently in Atlanta it has not rained for 41 consecutive days so it puts it in perspective out of that many days. Currently we are in the longest dry streak in recorded history.
And you take a look, in other way it really break this down, places such as Phoenix, Los Angeles, on to Las Vegas, well known for not being dry generally, but also in a drought position right now, compare those since the first of October to places like Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Birmingham, the rain fall disparity is undeniable what is occurring across this region.
So when you take a look at the forecast modeling, you see the tremendous wall of water in store over the next 24 to potentially 48 hours, that is wonderful news for a lot of people that have really dealt with a lot of poor air quality as well.
And some of this does come with severe weather. So with noting here we could get some wild weather here across portions of Louisiana on to Arkansas over the next 24 hours as well. But for some it will be very beneficial when it comes to the rain fall.
Where they don't need any more rainfall is right there across portions of southern Europe. I want to show you some video coming out of areas of Italy, in northwestern Italy over the last couple of days. Many rivers across this region bursting their banks out of -- after several consecutive days of heavy, heavy rain fall and weather pattern that was which was locked in place here.
So we had at least two fatalities, several people considered missing and of course goes without saying that many roads, bridges, schools and businesses shut down because of what has occurred here on the last couple of days.
But I want to show you the maps in motion here, here is what's happened in the past couple of days, what the blocking pattern is known as Rex Block here, where an area of high pressure is actually has been clinging to the storm system, pumping in that moisture right in towards portions of Italy.
We know even the orange crop there, official say potentially half of the citrus crop across the beautiful area of Italy might be lost because of the severe flooding. The areas in red show you where the flooding was, the green show you how it's improved now, so at least some good news back in the forecast for our friends across Italy seen a little bit of break from the rainfall, guys.
HOWELL: That is good news.
CHURCH: Good news.
HOWELL: Pedram, thank you.
CHURCH: Thank you, we appreciate it.
HOWELL: This week, the CNN Freedom Project is focusing on the people creating the ban for human trafficking. We began with the story of one trafficking survivor in Mexico, who is now an activist.
CHURCH: Rafael Romo reports her journey to safety was long and especially difficult because many of her abusers were in positions of authority.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): That little face you see there, that was my face at the age of 12.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: She travels the world telling her story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): They would beat me with sticks. They would beat me with cables. They would beat me with chains.
ROMO: Her name is Karla Jacinto.
KARLA JACINTO, HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM (TRANSLATED): I'm a human trafficking survivor, I'm 24 years old. They forced me into prostitution starting at age 12.
ROMO: By her own estimate, she was raped more than 43,200,000 by the time she turned 16. After being forced to work as a prostitute for four years, she was rescued during a police raid and taken to a shelter.
Over several years, she says, she went from being a victim to a trusted volunteer who would help and give advice to other victims. When we first met Karla in early 2015, she was still recovering from her deep emotional wounds and harrowing memories of sexual abuse. JACINTO (TRANSLATED): There were people who would laugh at me because
I was crying. I had to close my eyes so that I wouldn't see what they were doing to me.
ROMO: She said she wants the world to know human trafficking is part of today's reality and every child is at risk. Karla says some of the men who abused her were in law enforcement.
JACINTO (TRANSLATED): The uniform police officers entered a room we were in. We had to do everything they asked of us. The whole thing lasted three or four hours.
ROMO: What was going through your mind at that point, thinking that those who are supposed to protect you were abusing you?
JACINTO (TRANSLATED): I thought they were disgusting, they knew we were minors. We were not even developed. We had sad faces.
ROMO: Rosi Orozco, a former Mexican Congresswoman who now fights against human trafficking, says men in positions of power were among Karla's worst abusers.
ROSI OROZCO, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTOVIST: She had clients that were judges, priests, pastors, police, so she knew that she could not run away to go to the authorities.
ROMO: Now, Karla is not only surviving, but thriving, speaking publicly against human trafficking in different countries.
[03:50:02] JACINTO (TRANSLATED): I never imagined that the girl who use to stand up at a corner wearing short skirts and high heels, the one people would consider a prostitute would feel so strong. Nowadays many people are listening to me, and it's not only here in Mexico.
ROMO: Last July, she told her story to Pope Francis at the Vatican during an international conference about modern day slavery.
JACINTO (TRANSLATED): It's one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.
ROMO: In the end, she says, her main goal is raising awareness and protecting girls and boys so that they don't fall prey to human traffickers like she did.
Rafael Romo, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Incredible young woman there. And, coming up Tuesday, what the city of Oakland, California is doing to combat human trafficking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be announcing the launch of reportjohn.org.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The site aimed to crack down on demand for the sexually exploited, by encouraging people to photograph the license plate numbers of vehicles belonging to suspected sex buyers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: More on this new initiative Tuesday, the next part of the new CNN Freedom Project series, tracking demand.
HOWELL: Newsrom returns right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAVAHERI: For this time of talk weather for the Americas. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri here watching what's happening across the Central United States that really could be a dramatic change in the weather for what is occurred over the southeastern United States for several months across this region.
But here comes that cold front right here, it could bring you not only some severe weather, but also only some much needed beneficial rainfall across an area that is now severely drought stricken across the portions of the state of Mississippi, Alabama, on into Georgia, storm slated to arrive sometimes late Monday into Tuesday, eventually through Tuesday it will push in across much of the southeast.
And across this region, on Monday, a probability for severe weather on a scale of one to five, a three there for places like Baton Rouge, work your way around Alexandria near Jackson, Mississippi going to see some severe weather over the next 24 hours.
But, again, notice the elements really come together here, and keep in mind this time of year, it is rather what is known as the second season for severe weather across the United States. But we've had none of that to go around, much in large part because we haven't had much weather to go around across the southeastern U.S. with the exceptional drought now encompassing a larger area of land than it is across the state of California that's been ground stricken in recent years.
But L.A. will go at 17 degrees. Winnipeg some rain some snow mixing in, it should warm up above the freezing mark there at 6 degrees. In Atlanta another mild day at 21, and across San Francisco, temperatures into the teens.
[3:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. So, here in the United States we're just coming off of Thanksgiving. It is a time for people to give thanks. But people in one Thai province they've been giving thanks for something else. They're monkeys.
CHURCH: Yes. For the 28th year running, residents of Lopburi, north of the Bangkok have put out a fruit buffet for their frisky friends, they credit the monkeys with bringing in tourism dollars, which of course, they do.
HOWELL: Look at that. I mean, so many there monkeys there at the event welcomes visitors from all over the world, some of whom are a little wary of the monkey's touchy feely behavior. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes just like a little bit, because one bite me like yesterday, so that was -- I was surprised but I guess it was just a bit fun that was less kind with the others whereas, like really kind and friendly, so, yes, they're fun but I guess you still need to be a bit careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Yes, they do have a tendency to bite and this year's monkey buffet went ahead, despite the fact that Thailand is still grieving the death of its king. Reuters news agency quoted organizers as saying, "The event had been turned down as a sign of respect during a one year mourning period."
HOWELL: I think I'll be a little nervous about around.
CHURCH: You know, in Asia I remember I have very long hair and a monkey jumped in my hair, was clinging from the hair.
HOWELL: That doesn't sound like a good situation.
CHURCH: They get wary. They could be a real big wary.
And that's it for this hour. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.
HOWELL: And thanks for being with us. I'm George Howell. Early Start is next for viewers here in the United State, and for other viewers around the world, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kristi Lou Stout in Hong Kong.
CHURCH: Have a good day.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
