Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

North and South Korean Leaders Meets Again; Children's Last Laughter; White Supremacist Rally Outnumbered by Anti-Hate Group; Turkey's Lira Nose Dive After U.S. Sanctions; World Headlines; Investigation Underway Into How Employee Stole A Plane; Taliban Attack; Syria's Civil War; Taipei Hospital Fire; California Wildfires; Flooding Is No Match For Love In The Philippines; 100th PGA Championship; Idris Elba Addresses James Bond Rumors; Beer After Brexit. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 13, 2018 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Just months after a historic meeting, the leaders of North and South Korea are set to meet again. The details just ahead from Seoul.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: Plus, hours before they made headlines as victims of the devastating attack, they were just the schoolboys in a bus in Yemen. CNN has new video of their final moments.

CHURCH: And Turkey's president fires back at the United States as his country's economy buckles under U.S. sanctions.

HOWELL: Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Good to have you with us here on CNN Newsroom.

The leaders of South and North Korea have agreed to hold a summit next month in Pyongyang. And the meeting could be crucial. The reviving nuclear negotiation with the North.

HOWELL: Keeping in mind this will be the third meeting this year between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. That summit next month comes as experts doubt whether ongoing nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea will be successful.

Following the story is CNN's Paula Hancocks live in Seoul, South Korea. Paula, good day to you. This third meeting reading between the lines what does this mean for relations between these two nations?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, this is something that we have been expecting. We were really just waiting for the date. The South Korean President, Moon Jae-in saying after that very first summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that he would be going to Pyongyang in the autumn and he would be carrying out the summit.

The second summit of course came as somewhat of a surprise to most people as it didn't appear to have been planned in advance or at least there's no public planning of it.

So what we we're seeing here is a significant meeting. Because this would be the first time that the South Korean leader has gone to Pyongyang to meet with the North Korean leader in more than a decade. The last time there was this kind of inter Korean summit in the North Korean capital was 2007.

So, certainly, what we're hearing today, this was the result of high level talks between North and South Korea at the DMZ at Panmunjom, that truce village -- truce village. It was the unification minister from the South Korean.

The North Korean counterpart as well that sat down and discussed this, saying that it was important that the two Koreas work very closely together and make sure that they are working towards this Panmunjom declaration. That was the declaration they sign after that first meeting in April.

So, certainly, from a North/South Korean point of view it does appear as though relations are still warming, so there is progress being made. George?

HOWELL: Paula, this comes at a time when a relationship between United States and North Korea seems strained with these talks of denuclearization. How does this play into possible strategy from North Korea to grow closer to South Korea but build the wedge between South Korea and the U.S?

HANCOCKS: We certainly seen and heard from North Korea in recent weeks being very critical of Washington. Saying that they should be lifting sanctions against North Korea, that North Korea itself has been making a lot of concessions by closing down or dismantling an engine test site and also giving back some remains from the Korean War which could well be U.S. service members.

So certainly from North Korea's point of view, they don't believe that Washington is doing enough. From the U.S. point of view we're hearing many officials, even the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that the nuclear missile program is intact in North Korea, that they're not seeing any indication of any steps towards denuclearization.

But North Korea has insisted it would like a step by step process. If it gives a concession it would like some of the sanctions against to be lifted. And that's something that Washington has said that they don't want to do. That they want denuclearization before they even consider lifting these sanctions.

So we're certainly seeing some conflict between Washington and Pyongyang. And as we have seen in the past with that second summit as well between North and South Korea, North Korea does appear to turn towards the South more when things are not going well with Washington. [03:04:58] After the U.S. President Donald Trump suggest the Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un was off, it was just a matter of days before the North and South Korean leaders met once again to try and put that back on track. So certainly there is a case to be made that North Korea is pushing closer to South Korea at the same time as they are criticizing Washington. George?

HOWELL: All right. The headline this day the North and South Korean leaders set to meet in Pyongyang next month. Paula Hancocks, live for us in Seoul, South Korea. Thank you for the reporting.

CHURCH: CNN has obtained cell phone footage showing the final moments of a group of schoolboys in Yemen before many of them were killed in an air strike by the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition.

It was filmed by one of the students Osama Sid al-Hamran (Ph). It shows the classmates jostling and yelling during roll call on the bus and playing chess with friends.

HOWELL: This trip was a reward for the religious schools graduating summer class. Their teacher told CNN the boys had been sleepless with excitement for days.

Less than an hour after the video ends, Osama and many of his friends, the children, they were killed. Some of the scenes in this report from Nima Elbagir's report, they are graphic, they are distressing but they reflect the reality of what's happening. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are taking roll call. They probably need not bother. This is the day we are told the students have excitedly been awaiting for weeks. The little boy filming, Osama, swings (Inaudible) around to catch up all his friends.

They're due to graduate today after two months of religious summer school. First up is a shrine to the healthy masters. It may not seem like a fun day out, but if a city ravaged by war, this cemetery is one of the few remaining green spaces.

The children scatter in a game of chase. Less than an hour later, most of the children you see in this video were dead. Osama's phone is found in the wreckage of the bus and with it, the children's last moments.

CNN obtained the footage from local Houthi officials. This attack on a school bus carrying children are the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has drawn condemnation. The coalition maintains the attack hit a legitimate target, trainers and recruiters of child soldiers.

Still, the coalition is investigating and says it is fighting to reinstate Yemen's legitimate president after his overthrow by the Iranian- backed Houthi militias. Three years on now and the devastation in Yemen continues.

The surviving children struggle to piece together what happened. (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ELBAGIR: The scope of the tragedy still too difficult to absorb.

Hassan Hussein (Ph) is a medic, the first at the scene.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ELBAGIR: Many of the bodies found after the attack are so mutilated, that the process of identifying them has been drawn out and torturous. While the men busy themselves digging little graves waiting to be filled one by one.

You can hear the joy in Osama's voice. "Ali, Muhammad," he calls out, chasing behind them. "Wait. Let's take a picture." And the camera goes dead.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: It is the terribly disturbing reality of what's happening in that nation.

CHURCH: that's right.

HOWELL: We're also hearing from the U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, he has come out in support of an investigation into the air strikes. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MATTIS, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I have dispatched a three star general into Riyadh to look into what happened here and if there is anything we can do to preclude this in the future even though we support State Department's call for an investigation.

[03:10:04] CHURCH: And Mattis added the U.S. is concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and supports a U.N. brokered negotiation. The Saudi coalition said it launched the air strikes on missile launches at it was, quote, "a legitimate military operation." It accused the Houthi rebels of using children as human shields.

HOWELL: All right. Switching gears now. Here in the United States they were outnumbered. In the U.S. capital a loud message from thousands of people that America is no place for white nationalism, bigotry or racism.

Here's the scene in Washington, D.C. Dozens of anti-hate groups they came together near the White House on Sunday. Drowning out a white nationalist rally that was called Unite the Right Two.

It was to be held on the first anniversary of the racist riots in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned deadly.

CHURCH: On Sunday, the white nationalist made a lackluster showing in Washington. Organizers had expected hundreds of them to march but about only two-dozen showed up and they were easily shouted down by anti-hate groups as CNN's Brian Todd reports.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a day of passion and high energy in Washington. And just about all that was on the side of the anti racist protesters who vastly outnumbered the white supremacist protesters. There were several thousand anti-racist, anti-fascist demonstrators from a coalition of about 30 different groups from Black Lives Matters, to antifa, to other groups opposing the white supremacist message.

They showed up in force on the streets of Washington where the white supremacist only had many a couple of dozen people. They of that many and their many was drowned out.

This is just a bit of a flare up towards the end of the day here where some a few counterprotesters, people who may have been white supremacists, we don't know, showed up with a flag and were confronted by some of these people here with a counter message. Again, we don't know if they were white supremacist or not. But there was a flare up.

There was a little bit of jostling. There were some screaming at them. They quickly took refuge behind a line of police and that was what led to this confrontation here over my shoulder.

So some of these protesters are now leaving and kind of moving this way after police have basically cordoned off this area and gotten those few counterprotesters out of the way to safety.

So while you can say that most of the protests were peaceful and dispersed earlier today than anticipated some of the anger has not dissipated. So, some of these people are still hanging around. And you know, what we can say kind of carry the day is the security measures that the police have put up.

Right here and elsewhere in Lafayette Park over here, the counter racist protesters, the anti-racist protesters were not allowed to get really within about 100 yards of where the white supremacists were. And that prevented what could have been a confrontation similar to what happened in Charlottesville.

The police here are very cognizant of that but that really didn't happened in any large measure. And what did happen was that the white supremacists were so severely drowned out by the counterprotesters that they left. They didn't even finish their speaking program.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: A reality TV star and one-time White House aide is now stepping up attacks on her former boss. Omarosa Manigault-Newman is promoting her new and mostly unverifiable book recounting her time in the White House.

HOWELL: And now she's releasing what she says is a secret recording of White House chief of staff John Kelly firing her. She says the recording was made in the situation room which is supposed to be one of the most secure places on earth. Here is a portion of that recording.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

OMAROSA MANIGAULT-NEWMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Can I ask you a couple of questions? Does the president -- is the president aware of what's going on?

JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Don't do -- let's not go down the road. This is a nonnegotiable discussion.

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: I don't want to negotiate. I just -- I've never talked -- had a chance to talk to you, General Kelly. So if this is my departure, I would like to have an opportunity to understand.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLY: We can talk another time. This has to do with some pretty serious integrity violations. So I'll let it go with that. So the staff and everyone on the staff works for me and not the president.

(END VOICE CLIP)

CHURCH: The White House says the recording shows a disregard for national security. But Omarosa told NBC News she did it to protect herself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: Unhinged.

CHUCK TODD, HOST, MSNBC: How often did you--

(CROSSTALK)

MANIGAULT-NEWMAN: And you'll in unhinged I protected myself. Because this is a White House where everybody lies. The president lies to the American people. Sarah Huckabee stand in front of the country and lies every single day. You have to have your own back because otherwise you'll look back and you'll see 17 knives in your back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: All right. We're also hearing from the president's attorney speaking out about another person who's on the oust (Ph) of Donald Trump, that would be James Comey.

CHURCH: Yes. Rudy Giuliani is now telling CNN that the president never ask the former FBI director to drop the investigation into Mr. Trump's then-national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

[03:15:05] CNN's Boris Sanchez has more now on Giuliani's reversal.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rudy Giuliani is trying to make the case that this is not a contradiction but rather a misunderstanding. Back in July, when he spoke to ABC News he said that the president asked James Comey to cut a break for Michael Flynn to take it easy on him, something that he says that he was asking to do many times as a prosecutor.

He also suggest that James Comey should not as -- should not have taken that as a direction from President Trump that's why he makes the argument that the president did not attempt to obstruct justice.

I want you to listen now to exactly what Rudy Giuliani said during that ABC News interview just a few weeks ago. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, CHIEF ANCHOR, ABC NEWS: How is he a good witness for the president if he is saying that the president was asking him, directing him, in his words, to let the Michael Flynn investigation go.

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: He didn't direct him to do that. What he said to him was can you give him a break?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Rudy Giuliani here saying that this is simply a miscommunication. He apologized for the confusion that was created by what he says was the use of a devising legal argument which he says was arguing in the alternative to try to prove a point.

He is suggesting that this was not a contradiction. And that the president in fact never had any conversation with the former FBI director about Michael Flynn.

Now the president's legal team is continuing to make the case that the president should not testify before special counsel Robert Mueller. They say that Robert Mueller is trying to set a perjury trap for the president by asking him questions about a conversation that he had with James Comey, and specifically why the president ultimately fired the former FBI director.

The White House is also responding to another explosive story that of Omarosa Manigault-Newman and her release of a secret recording that she made as chief of staff John Kelly as he was dismissing her in the situation room at the White House which is supposed to be a secured area where recording devices should not be allowed.

The White House's Sarah Sanders putting out this statement. Writing, quote, "The very idea a staff member would sneak a recording device into the White House situation room shows a blatant disregard for our national security and then to brag about it on national television further proves the lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former White House employee."

Sarah Sanders there not even using Omarosa's name in the statement. There are still other aspects of this that have yet to be answered by the White House. Namely, why the chief of staff feel that it was necessary to take Omarosa into the situation room to fire her.

And what he was talking about in that recording regarding Omarosa's integrity infractions or a possible very serious issues and the reasoning behind his wanting her to have a so-called friendly exit from the White House. Again, I asked this of the White House press team and they have not responded.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president near Bedminster, New Jersey.

CHURCH: All right. So let's get some perspective on the situation. We are joined by Leslie Vinjamuri. She is head of the U.S. at America's Program Chatham House at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Leslie, always good to have you on the show.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, SENIOR LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Thank you.

CHURCH: So let's start with this apparent contradiction from the U.S. president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani who has changed his story and now says Mr. Trump never told former FBI James Comey to ease up on Michael Flynn last year. Now this despite saying the opposite in a television interview in July on ABC he says this is a misunderstanding, not a contradiction. What is going on here?

VINJAMURI: Well, it certainly looks like there is a real effort by Giuliani to backtrack to cover up to reconstruct what it is that the president might say should he speak directly with Mueller.

And so, it certainly concerning and raises a lot of questions. But I think we've seen a lot of contradictions and a lot of backtracking. And of course there is this question that, you know, Comey has said that there was a comment from the president that perhaps he could ease up on Flynn.

So, there's a lot -- a lot of questions raised by this. But I think at this point, the public perception, the public reaction will certainly be one which is simply a lack of surprise.

CHURCH: Yes, indeed. All right. I do want to turn now to the other story that has the attention of the White House. The release of a tell-all book by former Trump aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman, and of course the release of a recording of her firing by chief of staff John Kelly.

Omarosa has some credibility issues of course. So what impact will her book likely have and what might the ramifications be of her recording a conversation in the situation room.

VINJAMURI: Well, first of all, there a question of whether or not the recording will, you know, will alter the impact that her book has. I suspect that once again not. We've seen things coming out of this White House which are, you know, unethical, which are different from what we have seen in other White Houses.

[03:20:00] So, I think once again if you look at the public reaction, there will be a lack of surprise. It also isn't the first time that we are going to see a book come out that tells us a lot about this White House, about this president, go back to Michael Wolfe "Fire and Fury."

And in the short term there's a reaction and then it seems to sort of fade into oblivion almost as the president has continued to deflect. So certainly things that comes out affect the credibility.

But this is again going to be another instance where I think there's a lot of questions raised. But some of them unverifiable. And there will be a broader question about what her credibility is.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course we'll see if more tapes are released. Another big issue Sunday it was the white supremacist rally in Washington, D.C. that ended up being much smaller than anyone expected. Why do you think so few people turned up compared to last year in Charlottesville, Virginia. What might that signal do you think?

VINJAMURI: Well, I think this is actually one of the positive stories that's coming out of the United States right now which is that there has been a backlash against hate, against racism, and against white nationalism as a result in part of Charlottesville. And of racial politics that many people see as being stoked by this president frankly.

And so I think that, you know, that turnout was surprisingly low. A lot of people anticipated it would be much higher. But there was a sense that there would be puch back, that there would be people on the streets saying no in effect to white nationalism. And I suspect that those wh consider turning out thought twice.

Remember the percentage of support, those Americans that actively support white nationalism is actually quite low. And so what happened in Charlottesville I think is generated a lot of contestation and push back against those white nationalist. So I think yesterday was actually a very positive stry for America.

CHURCH: We got that message loud and clear I think, right. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

VINJAMURI: Thank you.

HOWELL: And CNN Newsroom pushes ahead. Turkey's lira takes another dive in early trading. But the finance minister of that nation says he has a plan to restore confidence. Turkey's currency crisis ahead.

[03:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The Turkish lira hit a new record low in early trading Monday after last week's free fall. Turkey's finance minister said he was launching an economic action plan to calm the markets.

HOWELL: The nation's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the U.S. had given Turkey a deadline to release an American pastor or to face new sanctions. He blamed the lira's plunge on economic attacks on Ankara.

CHURCH: On Friday, President Trump announced he was doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Turkey.

HOWELL: CNN's Arwa Damon is live in Istanbul Turkey following the story. Arwa, President Erdogan is urging people to do their part to protect the lira and ensure a populist appeal to defend that nation. How is the message being received?

ARWA DAMON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: With a lot of trepidation and anxiety as you can imagine, George, no one wants to see their country's economy take this kind of a plunge. And we're really not seeing much of a response to the president's plea at this stage.

He had said in a very sort of nationalistic, as you mentioned there, a statement urging people to go out and convert their dollars, their Euros, their gold into Turkish lira that happening late last week.

But at the same time we have also been hearing a variety of other statements coming out from the government right now, perhaps as an attempt to saying further come the markets down. There been all sorts of rumors going around as you can imagine that perhaps the government is going to be seizing or freezing people's bank accounts, forcibly trying to convert their dollars and their foreign currencies into lira.

That is not going to be happening. That is according to Turkey's finance and treasury minister. Also the president's son-in-law who said in a series of tweets trying to reassure the people that they would not be seizing deposited money in banks, that they would not be forcibly converting U.S. dollars to lira in the accounts. And that they would be applying this action plan.

The overarching broad strokes of it are that it mandates budgetary discipline. It includes measures to increase technological production, to produce exports and try to reduce the country's deficit.

Now, even though, yes, we have been hearing from the Turkish president and other officials really trying to place the bulk of the blame on this, on the massive spat going on between Turkey and the United States. The Turkish lira prior to all of this was already on shaky ground by and large because the Turkish president has been refusing to do what it is that the markets have been urging him to do and that is to increase interest rates.

So, Turks right now waking up to a very uncertain economic future. Perhaps also sensing that despite the government's own shortcoming, this is as the president said, some sort of economic warfare that is being waged on their government, on their country, and on they themselves. Because at the end of the day, they are the ones that are going to be suffering the most.

And you can just really begin to think about the kind of conversations that are happening amongst this country's citizens at this stage and just how concerned they are for their countries and for their own future.

HOWELL: All right. CNN's Arwa Damon, live with the reporting in Istanbul, Turkey. Thank you so much for your time today.

CHURCH: And we will take a short break here. But still to come, the family of the man who stole and crashed a passenger plane tries to understand why as the investigation gets underway.

HOWELL: Plus, the U.S. State of California it is burning up as crews are making progress though on one of the major wildfires there. The latest on that story as CNN Newsroom pushes ahead.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Live coast to coast across the United States and to our viewers around the world this hour, you're watching CNN "Newsroom," thank you for being with us. I'm George Howell.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. We are going to update you now on the main stories we have been following this hour. A group of of white nationalist marched in Washington Sunday but they didn't stay long.

Only about two dozens turned out with the "Unite the Right" rally . They were met by huge crowds of counter-protesters who shouted "Nazis go home." A year ago, a "Unite the Right" rally turned violent and deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia.

HOWELL: Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman is releasing what she claims is a secret recording of the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, firing her in the Situation Room. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says the recording shows a blatant disregard for national security from a disgruntled former White House employee.

CHURCH: The Jordanian government says five people were arrested during an anti-terror raid in the city of Salt. Saturday's raid followed an attack late Friday on an art festival in another Jordanian town. One security officer died and six others were wounded in that attack.

HOWELL: In the U.S. state of Washington, investigators there are trying to understand how an airline employee was able to steal a passenger plane. His name is Richard Russell. He took an empty Horizon airplane from Sea-Tac Airport, that's the main international airport, in Seattle area. He took that on Friday.

CHURCH: He flew it for about an hour before the plane went down and Russell died in that crash.

[03:35:01] Investigators have now found the flight data recorder and they are hoping it will provide some answers. Our Kyung Lah has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The NTSB says a flight data recorder is on its way to Washington D.C. for analysis. They hope to begin that sometime this week. It was recovered over the weekend by investigators. They say very little is left of the plane but the data recorder is intact.

The investigation shifting now to 29-year-old Richard Russell. He is the man, the Horizon Air employee who worked there for three and a half years, a ground service employee. He stole the plane, flew it in the sky for an hour here. Many people recording this, seeing the stunts that he took in the plane before crashing it into a remote island.

He had security clearance. He is described by his family as having no outward signs of mental illness, also described that way by his friends at work. To hear his voice on these recordings, say the people who know him, is heartbreaking.

RICHARD RUSSELL, HORIZON AIR EMPLOYEE WHO DIED AFTER STEALING PLANE (voice over): I got a lot of people that care about me. And it's going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. I'm just broken guy. I got a few screws loose, I guess, never really knew it until now.

MIKE MATTHEWS, FRIEND OF RICHARD RUSSELL: It may seem difficult for those watching at home to believe, but Beebo was a warm, compassionate man. As the voice recording show, Beebo's intent was not to harm anyone. He was right in saying that there are so many people who have loved him.

LAH: Beebo is the family name for Russell. That is how they refer to him. Before the family gave a statement to the press, they held hands, they prayed. They said their faith in God is the only thing helping them get through this.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: There are reports of sporadic clashes in the city of Ghazni, Afghanistan. Taliban militants launched a fierce attack there on Friday. Ghazni is on the main highway connecting Kabul with the country south.

CHURCH: A hospital official says more than 100 people have been killed since the fighting between the militants and government forces began. A U.S. military spokesman said Afghan forces are in control of government centers. American planes conducted five air strikes on Saturday and four more on Sunday.

Women and children are among the dead in an explosion in a rebel-held Syrian town near the Turkish border. A Syrian volunteer force says at least 36 people are dead and dozens more are wounded in Sarmada. The group says the explosion went off in a building that had been housing ammunition.

HOWELL: Volunteers rescued 10 people from all of the rubble that you see there. Idlib Province is the last group of territory still held by rebels opposed to the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.

We're getting word of a deadly fire in a Taipei hospital. Taiwan's health ministry says nine people were killed, 15 others injured, and 11 of them critically.

CHURCH: Two hundred forty-three firefighters fought to put out the flames. The fire broke out on the hospital's seventh floor before dawn on Monday. The cause is under investigation.

Crews are making progress against one of the massive wildfires raging in Southern California. The so-called "Holy Fire" was only 10 percent contained on Friday, but that jumped to 51 percent as of Sunday evening.

HOWELL: At least 21,000 people were forced to evacuate though many have now been allowed to return to their homes. One man is in custody. He is accused of starting this fire and sending threatening messages to a fire chief, saying, the place is going to burn.

Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera is here to tell us more about what is happening in that state because, Ivan, the weather is certainly important and critical for these firefighters to do their best to fight it.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. My goodness, over the weekend, 10 percent out of 51 --

HOWELL: Yes.

CABRERA: -- is a huge improvement. And I have to tell you, the weather hasn't really improved all that much. Just a little bit but maybe enough for firefighters to get the upper hand here and they certainly have. Just incredible staging out there as far as our firefighters go and what they have been able to protect these homes and folks as well.

Here is the fire. Fifty-one percent containment or up to to 22,714 (ph) hectares. So it is still growing a little bit but once it get over that 50 percent threshold, I think they will be able to get a better handle especially because weather conditions are going to get all that much force.

Still 15 active wildfires. We still have numerous evacuations. We still have 13,000 firefighters span across the state of California fighting these fires. And so far, we have burned 650,000 acres of land in California since we started this fire season.

[03:40:06] All right, some temperatures, as I mentioned, really are not going to improve all that much, 90s, locally gusty winds especially those down slope points that can accelerate and get very fast very quickly down the mountainside. Here is the Holy Fire.

What we did have over the weekend was the marine layer got a little bit closer and we also had some monsoonal moisture coming in and so that allowed at least not for rain but for relative humidity values to go up.

Temperatures, as I mentioned, are going to continue in the mid-90s over the next few days but overnight lows in the 60s. What we need is some rainfall. We have that monsoon moisture. Vegas got rocked over the weekend but not enough right over the fire.

Switching over as I head over to the other hemisphere here. Monsoonal moisture. I will leave you with this because there have been impressive totals coming out of the Philippines. We have also some tropical systems that have been impacting with the region here.

Look at this. We are back to metrics now, but 678 millimeters of rainfall falling at one part of the Philippines. That is over 27 inches of rainfall. Just incredible. In two days, that happened. But despite the flooding, I guess some things have to go on, I suppose.

CHURCH: That is amazing. Our next story actually relates to that weather. Ivan Cabrera, thank you so very much. So the wedding simply would not be canceled. Monsoon floods could not deter one very determined bride. Here she is in the Philippines.

HOWELL: The couple moved ahead with their plans for wedding despite the high water reaching into the church. This video has won the hearts of Filipinos. Some calling it "the wedding of the year." Congratulations to them!

CHURCH: Very determined bride. All right, let's take a very short break. Still to come, Tiger Woods may have gotten the biggest roars, but golfer Brooks Koepka can now count his name among the greats after an impressive showing at the PGA Championship. Back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:01] HOWELL: All right, today if you have been following, golfer Brooks Koepka, he is on a major role. The American captured his third major title and the second this year, winning the 100th PGA Championship. Koepka led wire to wire on Sunday with the final score of 16 under par.

CHURCH: Very impressive. But what makes it even more impressive, Tiger Woods was hot on his trail. Woods shot a final round 64 to massive roars from the the fans. He finished in second just shy of what would have been his 15th major title. But it wasn't. CNN's Patrick Snell sat down with Brooks Koepka to talk about his big win.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORT ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Brooks, many congratulations. I'd like to read out some famous names to you, if I may. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan. What does it mean to now add the name of Brooks Koepka to the elite list as the only man in history to win both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in the same season?

BROOKS KOEPKA, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER, 2018 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER: It's incredible. When you look at those names or hear those names, growing up as a kid, you couldn't even imagine adding your name to that list and to do that is incredible. And look back where I was two months ago, four months ago is incredible. I don't think I could have dreamed of this.

SNELL: You mentioned a difficult start to the year, the months of frustration, the wrist injury, not being able to compete in any of that. When you look back at that, if I said to you you were going to win not just one major but two majors in this season, what would you have said?

KOEPKA: I would laugh. I said I would have just taken coming back into the competition and playing my way into things and just finishing out the regular season. To win two majors is -- it's really incredible, and I have three now. I mean, I've got one PGA tournament and three majors.

It's -- I'm not going to get tired of saying I've got three majors, I can tell you that. But it's -- it's crazy and hopefully I can add a few more to that list.

SNELL: You've spoken about how you feel you don't get the recognition you feel for your achievements. Why do you feel that is?

KOEPKA: I'm not really concerned with all the attention that I get. You know, I like to lay low. I like to kind of hang back. I like to be the person that's not really recognized. But again sometimes you can't really hide when you do certain things and win two majors this year and, you know, three total. It's -- I guess you go down almost in the hall of fame, which you'll definitely get recognized in.

SNELL: Your mother appeared to surprise you there on the 18th green, herself a courageous lady. What did that moment mean to you?

KOEPKA: It's great. My mom has never seen me win a golf tournament. It was special. I was emotional. I almost shed a tear. I think I maybe might have walking away but I tried to hide it, trying to be -- trying to be a tough guy. And to have my mom here is truly special.

SNELL: And finally the golf world has been paying tribute to Jarrod Lyle, the Australian who passed away this week. How important was it for you to honor him and his memory?

KOEPKA: Yeah, it was nice to see so many guys wearing yellow ribbons this week and supporting Jarrod's family. It's unfortunate what happened but hopefully with everything that's going on, everybody can raise some awareness and donate to really help out the family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well done. All right, so many fans are clamoring for a new James Bond, but is Idris Elba ready to slip in the 007 shoes? The British actor weighs in on that.

HOWELL: Plus, what will happen to the quintessential British pint of beer at the Brexit? Odds are beer lovers may need to adapt their drinking habits. We'll explain that. Stay with us.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: The actor, Idris Elba, is having some fun win with his fans, many who hope that he will be the next James Bond. The British star tweeted a curious take on the spy's famous catchphrase writing this, "My name is Elba, Idris Elba." Just hours though, he tweeted, "don't believe the hype." Apparently shooting down some of the recent reports suggesting he might be considered for the roll of 007.

CHURCH: Elba has said in the past he is open to playing Bond when Daniel Craig steps aside. As for now, Elba's focus is behind the camera. His directorial debut "Yardie" is out later this month. I think he would make a great Bond.

HOWELL: Hope he gets it.

CHURCH: I do, too. And I think he might.

HOWELL: Yeah.

CHURCH: I got a feeling. All right, there's still a lot of uncertainty about the future of the U.K. after it leaves the European Union. Beer is among the British institutions which could change after Brexit.

HOWELL: Oh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

HOWELL: Our Nina Dos Santos reports. There was a big topic of course to be discussed at the Great British Beer Festival in London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ales, porters, bitters, something for every taste. You guessed it. It's a beer festival. The Great British Beer Festival to be precise, an annual tradition for demanding crowd which organizers say will have drunk 200,000 pints by the time this five-day event finishes.

That's 100,000 liters all in layman's terms, a lot of beer. But with Brexit on the horizon, will Britain's drinking habits suffer as the country leaves the European Union?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure it will because we mostly drink British beer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the U.K. market in the beer world is so, so, so good. The Brexit pace (ph) is quite effective.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It might stops some of the (INAUDIBLE) but we don't care about (INAUDIBLE).

DOS SANTOS: This festival is all about celebrating a great British institution, the humble pint. But make no mistake, there's a lot riding on Brexit for British brewers.

[03:55:01] Not least because beer was among the top three food and drink (ph) exports of this country last year, generating some $700 million worth of sale and 900,000 jobs.

And the industry does have some concerns, one being the cost of wheat, hops and other ingredients used to make beer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want to make sure so consumers know the price is not going to suddenly skyrocket. We want to make sure that brewers are going to have supplies they have for making the beer and making the cider.

DOS SANTOS: (INAUDIBLE) could make that harder, but are drinkers worried?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may get a bit more expensive because some of the contents of the product may get more expensive. But it is not going to stop us drinking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it goes up by a pound, we still have a beer. From the Brexit perspective, we'll survive.

DOS SANTOS: Maybe some things just never change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a cold day in the middle of winter, you want a nice dark British strong beer that's going to warm you up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beers are a national drink in the U.K.

DOS SANTOS: For consumers and for the industry, at least for now, the Brexit glass is half full.

Nina Dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: The glass half full.

(LAUGHTER)

HOWELL: Nina, thank you. Thank you for being with us for "Newsroom" this hour. I'm George Howell.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. "Early Start" is next for our viewers here in the United States.

HOWELL: For viewers around the world, our colleague Hannah Vaughan Jones picks it up live in London. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

CHURCH: Have a great day.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)