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Survivors Take Gun Control Fight To State Capital; Pro-Government Forces In The North Support Kurds; Migrants Say Libyan Coast Guard Abused Them. Aired at 8-9a ET
Aired February 21, 2018 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:14:57] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: And you've been watching CNN U.S. in its special ongoing coverage of the aftermath of the school shooting in
Florida.
[08:15:03] I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Never again, that is their singular powerful message. Live on your screen, you've been seeing the
students who survived that horrific school shooting. They arrived in Tallahassee, the state capital of Florida.
They stayed overnight in the Civic Center. They are on their way to the March to the capital building, and there, they are going to push for change
in gun laws.
They have organized their message on social media. You heard Dianne Gallagher interview one of the students. She has been up all night
researching talking points about gun legislation because they are set to meet with lawmakers in about 30 minutes from now with a goal to stop gun
violence.
It's going to be tough for them to get action. We know that on Wednesday, the Florida State House rejected the motion to consider a ban man on many
semiautomatic guns. The vote happened at the beginning of the day.
The House Chamber actually paused to pray for the victims. But what we've heard again and again from these students, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School, is that they want more than thoughts and prayers. They want action.
So the students have channeled that action, the fire has been lit underneath them. They arrived in the state capital of Tallahassee and they
have fundamentally changed the nature of America's gun control debate.
They are taking action themselves. Again, they will be meeting with Florida lawmakers in about half an hour from now and we'll continue to
watch the story very closely.
And do join us for a special CNN town hall with the students, their parents and others affected. It's called Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman
Douglas Demand Action.
We will be airing live 9:00 p.m., Wednesday in New York, 2:00 in the morning, Thursday in London, 10:00 a.m. in Hong Kong. You can also catch
the replay. We will be airing at 5:00 in the evening, Thursday, both in London and in Hong Kong, only on CNN.
Now, to Syria, it's a country that's been torn apart by conflict. In the north of Syria, fighting is putting fragile alliances under even more
strain.
Pro-government forces have been sent to support Kurdish fighters, they are under threat from Turkish troops who view them as terrorists. That puts
Ankara at odds with his NATO ally.
The U.S. who supports the Kurds in the south, in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, the most horrific aspects of this war, the rebel held areas being
devastated by relentless shelling and air strikes by the government.
Hundreds have been killed in just the past 48 hour. Ben Wedeman has this report on the violence in Eastern Ghouta and a warning, this report
contains troubling images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nizal (ph) weeps over the body of his daughter, Farah (ph). His other five children went missing, lost as the
Syrian government subjects the Eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus to the most intense bombardments since the war began.
Bodies line the floor of this hospital's morgue, a bed sheet, this child's simple death shroud. And as always it's the children that suffer most in
this war without mercy.
According to local tradition, Ghouta was the original Garden of Eden. Now, it's perhaps the closest thing to hell on earth. Home to as many as
400,000 people, it's been under siege for years.
Tuesday, the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, issued a blank statement on the situation in eastern Ghouat, a small footnote at the
bottom explains, "We no longer have the words to describe children's suffering and are outraged to those inflicting the suffering still have
words to justify their barbaric acts."
CNN reached out to the Syrian government for comment. They had no words. "These are the worst days of our lives", Dr. Amani Ballour, a hospital
director told CNN by phone from the Eastern Ghouta. "It couldn't get worse than this", she said. She may be wrong.
It's widely believed the bombardment is a prelude to an offensive to retake Eastern Ghouta, one of the last opposition strongholds. Many of these
disturbing images are captured by local civil defense units, the so-called White Helmets rushing from one bomb site to another.
Here, there are no bomb shelters. People huddle in their homes and all too often die in them. Beyond that there are no words. Ben Wedeman, CNN,
Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: A brutal report there by CNN's Ben Wedeman. And now to that other conflict in Syria. In the Afrin region, that is the green area in
Syria's northwest corner. Kurdish forces currently hold that territory but they are under threat from Turkish troops, because Ankara considers them
terrorists.
And now pro-government fighters entered the contested and reportedly fired on by Turkish forces. They have been sent to help the Kurds.
[08:20:00] The U.S. backs the Kurds as well, putting it at odds with Ankara but in this case, siding with Damascus. Now to make sense to all of these,
CNN's Sam Kiley, he joins us now live from Abu Dhabi.
And, Sam, Syrian forces are now in Afrin. This has yet another layer to an already very, very complicated battlefield. Just how significant is this
escalation?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It isn't significant if they don't go any further. This is a militia of a few hundred men, quite
heavily armed by the standards of the local battlefield, that is when you come to infantry engagements and some use of tanks and other personnel
carrier, but no match at all for Turkish air power.
So if this group which may or may not have been actually driven back by Turkish artillery already, but if this group does get heavily engaged in
fighting in Turkey and the Turks start using air power against them.
Then there's a possibility that the Syrians and the Russians who for the time being are actually allowing the Turks to use Syrian air space to fly
against the Kurds may withdraw that permission and, indeed, end up in some kind of conflagration in the skies over Syria with a NATO partner.
But I think we're a very long way from that. This movement of troops to Afrin is not of Government troops. It is of a local Shia militia and I
think it's much more about gesture politics, about the Assad regime signaling internally and to the international community that there is --
there are areas within his country where he is popular.
In this case he's popular with the Kurds inside that enclave, because they have got a much bigger fish to fry. They got a war on with their Turkish
neighbors.
So I think it should be seen very much in that context and then possibly also as an effort to distract from the atrocities that are going on right
on the edge of the capital there, where as, Ben, was reporting just a few moments ago.
So I don't think that this is likely to turn into a major conflagration but as ever in Syria, little local difficulties, local clashes can often suck
in super powers, just a couple of weeks.
Less than a couple of weeks ago there was an incident in which American Air Force and artillery was used to attack Syrian forces that included some --
allegedly some Russian mercenaries. Again, that was an incident -- a local incident that suddenly had intercontinental implications. And the moment
though the Afrin think that these very much are local situation.
LU STOUT: Got it. And here is hoping that the clashes in Afrin won't de- escalate any further but the fats that pro-Syrian forces have move in to this area, where reminds us of Turkey's presence there. Why is Turkey
there? What is the aim and scope of Turkish forces in Afrin?
KILEY: Turkey is very clear about what its aims are. They are in the Turkish view to clear the area of Kurdish control, particularly of the
Kurdistan Workers Party, which historically has used that area, very mountainous, semi-remote area of Northern Syrian to launch terrorist
attacks as part of its campaign against the Turkish State over many decades inside Turkish territory.
So the Turks are very clear. They want to clear the Kurds from their border, clear Kurdish military control away from their border. That's
their public statement.
There are other very clear strategic effort is by clearing that area of Afrin, they will therefore be able to start reducing the amount of
territory along their borders that's Kurdish controlled.
There is a huge swage of Northern Syria, now a good, probably half of the whole border between Syria and Turkey is now under Kurdish control, and in
all probability, they will slowly will start salami slicing that away at least, that will be their efforts, so in the longer term to all about
getting rid of those Kurds -- armed Kurds on Turkey's border.
LU STOUT: Sam Kiley reporting, thank you. The CNN Freedom Project has been following the fate of migrants during harrowing conditions in Libya.
Some say they were brought to Libya when the country's coast guard intercepted their boats. A group had managed to escaped and now they are
talking about what happened. Isa Soares reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After months of suffering, a scream of freedom. These migrants were found by the humanitarian organization
Proactiva Open Arms, adrift in a dinghy 20 miles off the coast of Libya.
With the worst behind them, they celebrate. But their joyful song is not enough to shake off the painful memories of their past.
[08:25:03] For months in Libya, the migrants say they were in the hands of gangsters, militias, and corrupt security forces who held them for ransom,
tortured them, and kept them as slaves.
Having paid their smugglers, they took to the sea from the coastal town of Zuwarah. After 10 hours in rough waters, these 140 migrants traumatized
and shaken are rescued by volunteers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the blacks in Libya are slaves. I swear to God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of people, they are in prison. Everywhere they shoot people.
SOARES: In 2017, more than 40 percent of all migrants stranded in Mediterranean, headed to Europe were rescued by human rights group like
Proactiva, which now face a new challenge.
Pushed by growing anti-immigration sentiment among voters, last summer, the European Union began to train and fund the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept
migrant dinghies and bring them back to Libya.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All grounds, this is Libyan Coast Guard. Change your course to zero, zero, zero and leave this area. This is the...
SOARES: NGOs have attacked this strategy, accusing the Libyan Coast Guard of causing migrant fatalities, and being complicit in human trafficking.
So, these groups are not welcomed near Libyan waters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't come back, do you understand? This is not Libya search and rescue zone. Do you copy?
SOARES: According to the Italian government, this deal has contributed to a 70 percent drop in migrant arrival since last July.
But behind the deal, the U.N. Security Council has found the Libyan Coast Guard to be quote, directly involved in such grave human rights violations
against migrants. (Inaudible) from Nigeria, says the Libyan coastguard caught him when he first trying to cross into Europe last June.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they got you, they beat you. They beat us, we black, like animals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't feed people. You have give us breakfast while everybody do is just wanted to get hope. But they don't know
something about that. All they're focusing is their money.
SOARES: Efai (ph), says the coastguard did eventually let him go. But first, they extorted $2,000 from him. He says those who couldn't pay were
detained or tortured, or even passed on to criminal gangs. The commander of the Libyan coastguard denies this and says that all allegations against
them are false.
In a telephone conversation with CNN, (Inaudible) says, "We save people from the water and we turn them into official places on the Libyan interior
ministry who all work with recognize organizations like the IOM."
Then, many of the migrants we speak to on this dinghy who have experienced the detention centers in Libya, are come into Europe with a very different
story to tell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are kidnapping people, they are selling people like fish, they are marketing people like clothes.
SOARES: Isa Soares, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Well harrowing pictures of the migrants that clinging to life on that dinghy. Now, March 14th, this is a very important date. It is coming
up. It's the second annual My Freedom Day and CNN -- we've been partnering with young people around the world for a student led day of action against
modern day slavery and driving My Freedom Day is a simple question.
What does freedom mean to you? I want to hear what freedom means to you as well. Just post a photo or video using the #MyFreedomDay. You are
watching News Stream.
Still to come, this year's Olympic Games are about much more than gold medals for one South Korean athlete. Why the location of the games mean so
much to him.
[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines.
Dozens of student who survived last week's school shooting are descending on the state capitol in Florida to pressure lawmakers for change and to
push more stricter gun control. But they face a tough road ahead. On Tuesday, lawmakers, they refused to even debate a ban on assault weapons.
A medics and activist in Syria say at least 300 people have been killed in eastern Ghouta in the past three days. The rebel-held suburb of Damascus
has been facing a barrage of shelling and airstrikes by the Syrian government.
Members of the Israeli prime minister's inner circle are at a center of two new police investigations. The latest, Benjamin Netanyahu's former family
spokesman, has been arrested on suspicion of corruption.
The U.S. says it was on the threshold of meeting with North Korean officials when Pyongyang suddenly changed its mine. Vice President Mike
Pence was seated near Kim Jong-un's influential sister at the Pyeongchang opening ceremony as you recall.
His office said that he was scheduled to meet with Kim Yo-jong but North Korea pulled out of the meeting at the last moment, a move U.S. officials
say was the result of Pence's tough rhetoric.
The Pyeongchang games are more than just pushing the limits of sport. For one South Korean ski jumper, this is a moment to shine in his hometown.
Paula Hancocks has Kim Hyun-ki's story, Pyeongchang's very own local hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kim Hyun-ki was just 10 years old when his father suggested he take up the ski jump.
He'd never heard of it, but gave it a try. Four years later, he decided to take it seriously.
I started with a Korean coach, he says. "He told me to jump but I was too scared to come down. I almost burst into tears. All I can remember is
closing my eyes and letting go at the start bar."
He's improved a bit since then, competing in six consecutive Winter Olympis, even featuring in a Korean movie. He was the ski jump double for
this 2009 blockbuster, "Takeoff."
Kim's first Olympics was Nagano in 1998. He says even after that, he never imagined he'd last so long. He is a local hero, born and bred in
Pyeongchang. Kim remembers when the Olympics ski resorts were just small farming villages.
It's very rare for an athlete to be able to participate in Olympic Games in their own country, he tells me. "But for me, it's in my hometown. This
experience is so precious and important to me."
Jochen Danneberg is a former silver medalist ski jumper and has trained Kim on and off since he was 14. From former East Germany, he says, working in a
divided country like Korea has extra resonance.
JOCHEN DANNEBERG, COACH, SOUTH KOREAN SKI JUMPING TEAM: We have the same problems but I think Koreans can learn a lot from the Germans.
HANCOCKS (voice over): Kim's Olympics may be over, save for the closing ceremony and he hasn't yet won an Olympic medal. His team best is eight in
Salt Lake City in 2002. but he is not finished yet.
(on camera): So this is Olympics number six for you? Will there be number seven?
KIM HYUN-KI, SOUTH KOREAN SKI JUMPER: Maybe.
(LAUGHTER)
HANCOCKS (on camera): Beijing?
HYUN-KI: Yes, I try.
(LAUGHTER)
HANCOCKS (voice over): Paula Hancocks, CNN, Pyeongchang, South Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: You're watching "News Stream." Still to come, we are going to hear from a 12-year-old trying to tackle the problem of poison water.
"Tomorrow's Hero" is next.
[08:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back, this is "News Stream" and this just in to us here at CNN. Reverend Billy Graham has
passed away at the age of 99. Here's a look back at his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILLY GRAHAM, REVEREND: If you come by faith in him.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He was called America's pastor, a minister in the old time tradition of southern
U.S. baptist who built a mass following worldwide, traveling the globe and taking to the airwaves as no religious leader had ever done before.
He had no home, church. No regular congregation. No church hierarchy except the one he himself created. But through radio, television, movies,
publishing and appearances in 185 countries, the record breaking crowds, Graham reached out to hundreds of millions of people, preaching the gospel
to try to save the souls of each and every one.
GRAHAM: There is no other way. Man cannot be saved by bread alone.
HOLMES (voice over): Billy Graham was born in 1918 and raised on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina, a time and a place familiar with
traveling preachers who would visit long enough to try to revive the community's faith in Christ. Graham attended a revival meeting when he was
16. He became a minister and launched his own revivals.
GRAHAM: I do not believe that any man, that any man can solve the problems of life without Jesus Christ.
HOLMES (voice over): He called his revival campaigns crusades and made them bigger than any ever seen before. Night after night, for example, at
New York's Madison Square Garden, for 16 weeks.
In 1950, Billy Graham made his first visit to the White House. He met and prayed there with Harry Truman, and through the decades with nearly all of
Truman's successors.
GRAHAM (voice over): I know that God has sent me out as a warrior on the five continents to preach the gospel. And I must continue until he gives
the signal that I'm to stop.
HOLMES (voice over): He prayed in Russia, China, South Africa.
GRAHAM: Christ belongs to all people. He belongs to the whole world.
HOLMES (voice over): He prayed in North Korea, Canada, Hungary.
GRAHAM: I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
HOLMES (voice over): And in 2005, he prayed at his last crusade with 200,000 people in New York.
GRAHAM: We hope to come back again someday.
HOLMES (voice over): Billy Graham prayed all around the world in his seven decades as a media savvy minister, a preacher who reached out to the
planet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Reverend Billy Graham, dead at the age of 99. That was CNN's Michael Holmes reporting there.
Over the next few weeks here at CNN, we are going to he introducing you to some of the world's top young scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors, and
most of them are just students. We're calling them tomorrow's heroes. Today's hero is a student from Denver who invented a device inspired by a
water crisis in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: More than two billion people lack access to clean drinking water at home. It's a major health
issue responsible for the death of millions of people every year. Tomorrow's hero, Gitanjali Rao, is working to help people detect the
invisible enemy hiding in the water they drink.
[08:40:00] GITANJALI RAO, 12-YEAR-OLD INNOVATOR: My name is Gitanjali Rao. I am 12 years old. I'm in seventh grade and I go to STEM School
Highlands Ridge.
So I developed a device to detect lead in water should the current techniques (INAUDIBLE). It uses nanotube-based sensor in order to give you
instantaneous results on your smart phone of safe, slightly contaminated or critical of the lead status in your water.
I was originally introduced to the Flint water crisis through STEM lab. And it was just appalling to see the number of people who are affected by lead
in water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look right at me. Look right at me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When her son Gavin started to become ill, it was subtle. So subtle the end waters wouldn't have been blamed for missing it.
RAO: The purpose of science is to make a difference. We can have lead contaminated water, but then what are we going to do with it? In the name
of science, we can use it to help prevent anybody else from drinking lead contaminated water.
I am very passionate about girls in STEM. Most people think that science is a boy subject and other subjects can be girl subjects. If you like science,
then go for it. I know that I love science. It's one of my favorite subjects in school. And I like innovating and inventing new technologies.
So, that's what I was passionate about.
It's not just about being who someone tells you to be. It's about what you're passionate about. I partnered with Denver Water and I am working on
performing my tests and doing research there.
So at this point, I am working on redesigning the device structure, refining my sensors, adding various tables and charts for more accurate
values. I want to see this in the market so that it is in everyone's hands in the next year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: What an incredible girl. She is tomorrow's hero and only 12 years old. And that is it for us here at "News Stream". I'm Kristie Lu
Stout, but don't go anywhere, we got "World Sport" with Amanda Davies, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
END
