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14 Day State Of Emergency In Central Sulawesi; U.S. Canada, Mexico Agree To Replace NAFTA; Sources: Kavanaugh, Ford Not On FBI Initial Witness List; Source: White House Controlling Scope Of FBI Probe; Coons: Thought Kavanaugh's Anger Out The Best Of Him; FBI Cannot Compel Mark Judge To Submit To Interview; Crisis in Venezuela; Former Beauty Queen Murdered in Iraq; Typhoon Trami Batters Japan; Christian Group Teams with Israelis to Aid Syrians; Iraqi Police Investigate Social Media Star's Murder; Exploring Laos' MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary; Europe Wins Big over Powerful U.S.A. Team in Paris. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 01, 2018 - 1:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Indonesia prepares the mass burials following the deadly earthquake and tsunami even as rescue teams are still searching for survivors.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ahead this hour also the United States, Canada, and Mexico have reached a deal to preserve NAFTA. You've probably heard of that and they did that just before the deadline.
VANIER: And the White House pushes back against accusations. It is trying to limit the FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. As always it's great to have you with us. We're live from the CNN Center, I'm Cyril Vanier.
ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
VANIER: In the coming hours Indonesia will hold mass burials for the victims of Friday's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. At least 832 people have been killed. That death toll is very likely to grow.
ALLEN: Rescue workers are racing the clock to try to reach people believed to be buried in collapsed homes and buildings they have rescued people so that continues. And as the recovery efforts continue, many survivors are becoming though desperate for basic needs. CNN's Matt Rivers is in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A body is pulled from the rubble of a hotel where 50 people are thought to be trapped. A desperate search for survivors continues after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi triggering a tsunami.
This cell phone video captures waves as high as ten feet rolling towards the shore as people are warned to run for higher ground. The source of the water swoops through the streets carrying anything and anyone in its way. In its aftermath, destruction. Wrecked cars showed just how violently the waves hit.
In a hospital in the coastal city of Palu, survivors are tended to amid the power cuts. They're the lucky ones.
SUTOPO PURWO NUGROHO, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY (through translator): We're expecting a rise in the number of dead victims so though hope the data remains as it is. However, looking at the conditions there, there are still bodies unidentified as well as victims buried under ruins. There are also remote areas yet to be reached by joint SAR teams.
RIVERS: Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Palu Sunday and ordered rescuers to work day and night to search for the missing. A state of emergency has been called for 14 days in Central Sulawesi as crews work to restore electricity and communication and repair damage on the roads and bridges. But in Palu, people say they don't have enough basic food, medicines, and have been allowed by the authorities to take away supplies from supermarkets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There's been no aid. We need to eat. We don't have any other choice. We must get food.
RIVERS: Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency estimates that 2.4 million people were affected by Friday's earthquake, and as they await help residents combed through the debris of what was once their homes. Matt Rivers CNN, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: Alexandra Field joins us now from Hong Kong. Alexandra, with the -- with the airport down, the ports down and the roads almost blocked, what is the latest on the ability to deliver aid and supplies to the affected areas?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes this is really a disaster on top of a disaster particularly given the fact that the huge focus has to be right now on finding and rescuing survivors and that's very much hampered by the ability to bring in heavy machinery, to do some of the digging and sifting through this debris, and also simply to get more rescue and recovery teams into the area.
This is something that they have been contending with since Friday evening. That's because you've got disruption to the transport services, you've got roads that are blocked currently by landslides, you have bridges that are down with the impact to that Airport. We know it's about 10 to 12-hour drive from the closest airport that was operational through the weekend so it really means that things are moving quite slowly. You don't just need of course the heavy machinery, and the fuel, and the rescue teams, but you also need the supplies for survivors.
You've got so many people, about 17,000 that are believed to be out of their homes right now. These are people who need tents, they need blankets, they need food, they need water, they need medicine. So government working to get these things to them but confronting the reality that it is just logistically exceptionally difficult to deliver to the people most in need now. Cyril?
ALLEN: Yes, and Alex, it's Natalie. There was another earthquake in the region. In the Lomboc I believe was the island just a few weeks ago so this is definitely an area that sees earthquakes and now they're seeing a series of earthquakes, so what about the threat of maybe a follow-up earthquakes or aftershocks during this rescue period?
FIELD: And there were a series of tremors over the weekend and that continues to be a primary concern. It's why people who've not only lost their homes are sometimes choosing to stay outside because they're concerned about going back into buildings. It's one of the reasons why we've seen so many people being treated actually outside of hospital buildings on the ground. We know the Red Cross has been working to bring in mobile surgical units as well as mobile kitchens in order to provide some resources because the situation right now is that you've got thousands of people who are seeking relief at outdoor shelters. That's the best they can do and there's also that risk of spurred shocks which makes people wary about going inside any buildings that may not be damaged.
[01:05:36] The fact right now though is that the injured nation government does need more help and they have made that clear. The president has said that they will be accepting international offers of assistance. They're setting up a mechanism to do that and certainly, we've seen the number of countries saying that they will be able to provide either money or other forms of assistance in terms of supplies particularly medical supplies and food, things that are most urgently needed right now. The European Commission among them saying that they all contribute about 1.5 million euros.
So you will see these offers of aid pouring in but again it is difficult for everyone to actually move that aid into the most affected area. And while the death toll stands right now at about 832 people, officials warning that it is almost certain to go up. They're still having trouble getting to areas that were most heavily affected by the storm.
ALLEN: Absolutely.
FIELD: By the tsunami and the earthquake.
ALLEN: All right, Alex Field for us in Hong Kong, thank you. And Alex mentioned the mechanisms for help. We have one. If you'd like to help as well, you can go to our Web site at CNN.com/ impact.
VANIER: Master is no more. A new trade deal between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada has now been reached. Canada signed onto the rewritten deal just before midnight deadline. Sources say the final stumbling blocks were eventually worked out.
ALLEN: The U.S. will now have greater access to Canada's dairy market and the threatened U.S. tariffs on Canadian auto exports have also been addressed. The leader of all three countries are expected -- the leaders are expected to sign the new treaty. After that, Congress, the U.S. Congress has 60 days to review and approve the agreement that is expected early next year.
Let's talk more about it we're joined by Jeffrey Rosensweig, he's a Professor at Emory University Business School in Atlanta. Thanks for coming in, Jeff.
JEFFREY ROSENSWEIG, PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL IN ATLANTA: Pleasure.
ALLEN: First of all, we heard senior administration officials say this is a big win for all these three countries. Why is it so important to all these three nations?
ROSENSWEIG: It's important because we are by far each other's biggest trading partners especially in the case of Canada and Mexico, they were nervous to keep some kind of deal together because roughly 70 or 80 percent of their exports go to the U.S. But on the other hand, they are our biggest markets as well. By far the biggest markets for U.S. exports are Canada and Mexico. No one else is even close. And by having markets for exports, we're creating jobs and export jobs are often too high pay jobs. It also gives U.S. industry an opportunity to get something called economies of scale with a bigger market we're more likely to do a lot of research and development upfront or build modern factories. So it really has helped continue the growth we've been seeing.
ALLEN: And what are the main trade issues? What are the main industries that are involved here?
ROSENSWEIG: Well, that's the silly thing about this whole negotiation is that we had close allies Canada and Mexico. President Trump decided to open up this NAFTA negotiation, in some sense say very unkind things about our neighbors, and it's come down to we have a little more access for dairy. Everything else it's more like well, we agreed not to do something that we were thinking about doing. We agreed not to do something.
It really comes down to a few more farmers will be milking a few more cows and it's a shame that we caused her selves so much of the goodwill. We've built up with our closest ally Canada for the sake of a few -- a few exports of dairy products.
ALLEN: Yes, but still, will this be seen as a savvy move that notwithstanding by President Trump who said he's going to take on NAFTA and he did and he's come out with a new agreement.
ROSENSWEIG: Natalie, I think you're right. He made certain promises in the campaign and one was to renegotiate NAFTA and now he can say I have a victory. I renegotiated NAFTA. It helps the U.S. Now the fact is it really doesn't help the U.S. and in many ways, it hurts us not economically but again geopolitically and it doesn't make any difference economically. But I think coming into the midterm elections, he needed something that he can say I made promises, I came through, tax cuts, I came through, renegotiate NAFTA I came through. But when we look deeper, it's a -- it's a whole lot of nothing.
Natalie, what's really important is trade policy with China because that's where we have a big trade deficit and that's where the playing field probably isn't level. It is level with Canada and has been for decades.
[01:10:08] ALLEN: All right, well, thank you so much for your perspective. We appreciate your insights. Thanks, Jeff.
VANIER: In the investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is focusing on accusations made by two women, a third one which has also come forward but so far the FBI is not talking to her. We'll explore all of that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN "WORLD SPORT" headlines. We start with goals where Europe have reclaimed the prestigious Ryder Cup, the biennial battle between the United States and Europe's best players with a comprehensive victory in Paris on Sunday. Team Europe had a 10-6 advantage heading into Sunday singles play and needed only 4 1/2 points out of 12 available to reclaim the cup. When Phil Mickelson hit a ball into the water, it fittingly gave Europe top scorer Francesco Molinari the clinching point and you can see what it means to the European (INAUDIBLE). The Italian the first euro to win all five matches he's played in the current format. Europe of now one for the last five Ryder Cups six in a row on home soil as well. Next up, Whistling Straits Wisconsin, USA two years from now.
It was controversial right but the Formula One 2018, the Russian Grand Prix that will go down in the books as a win for British Formula One star Lewis Hamilton. Though the story behind it is one his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas will likely remember for a long, long time to come. Here's why. Remember Bottas has won this very race last year. He has pole position and (INAUDIBLE) was once again leading until he was ordered by his own team to make way for his team in. Hamilton the Brit now 50 points ahead in the driver standing, through just five races left on the season.
Absolutely World Sports headlines, I'm Patrick's Snell.
VANIER: OK, we are learning more details about the FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh including who's on the list of witnesses for agent's to interview and perhaps more importantly who's not.
ALLEN: Yes, sources tell CNN that Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who testified that he sexually assaulted her long ago are not on the initial list given by Senate Republicans to the FBI.
VANIER: The FBI did talk to another woman Deborah Ramirez on Sunday. She accuses Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her when they were both in college something which she denies. There are questions about just who is pulling the strings of this investigation. [01:14:54] ALLEN: Yes, it is limited. The sources tell CNN the White
House is controlling the scope of it even though President Trump insisted the FBI has free rein. The Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein wants to know more about that. We get more on it from CNN's Boris Sanchez at the White House.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein, sending out a statement on Sunday afternoon requesting the exact directive coming from the White House to the FBI outlining the exact parameters of the FBI probe into accusations made against President Trump's pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Dianne Feinstein's thing of the stakes are simply too high and that Senators on that committee should know exactly what the White House is telling the FBI to do.
Two sources familiar with the investigation have told CNN that the White House is sort of outlining the exact steps that the FBI should take maintaining that specific questions about Brett Kavanaugh's drinking habits in high school are off limits and sort of outlining that there would only be a handful of interviews conducted during this probe.
Now, as even before, Dianne Feinstein sent out the statement, President Trump was already weighing in saying that Democrats would be unhappy regardless of the scope of the investigation. He wrote on Twitter, "Wow! Just starting to hear the Democrats who are only thinking obstruct and delay are starting to put out the word that the time and scope of FBI looking into Judge Kavanaugh and witnesses is not enough. Hello! For them, it will never be enough. Stay tuned and watch."
Of course, this news coming from sources just days after President Trump said that the FBI would have free rein over this investigation. That is not sitting well with the number of Democrats including Senator Amy Klobuchar who spoke to Jake Tapper on the "STATE OF THE UNION", Sunday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The hard- working men and women of the FBI should be able to do their jobs. And on that, I agree. But what we are hearing are reports that they're somehow trying to limit this, to a few witnesses or tell them what they should do.
And while the White House decides who to nominate, and then, that person is submitted to a background check, I've never heard that the White House either under this President or other presidents is saying, "Well, you can't interview this person. You can't look at this time period. You can only look at these people from one side of the street from when they were growing up."
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was also on the Sunday morning talk show, saying that the White House does not want to micromanage the FBI. Though, she admitted that she didn't know whether White House Counsel Don McGahn had told the FBI who they could or couldn't interview, and what questions they could or could not ask. Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.
ALLEN: The FBI investigation now underway only came about after Republican Senator Jeff Flake said he would only vote to send Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor with the one week delay for this investigation.
He and his Democratic colleague, Senator Chris Coons talked with CBS News about Kavanaugh's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I was really struck that I thought his anger got the best of him and he made a partisan argument that would have been best left to be made for his advocates and defenders on the committee.
SCOTT PELLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: Made you wonder about his suitability?
COONS: In my case, yes. It made me wonder about his suitability to serve on the bench.
PELLEY: But Senator Flake, you identified with it. You understood.
SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, the part that he talks about, the mention of the Clintons and what that I'd didn't like either. I did it seem partisan, but boy, I had to put that myself in that spot, you know, I think you give a little leeway there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Senator Flake is not seeking re-election. He says that if he were running again, there is not a chance he could have pushed for delaying the vote on Kavanaugh, adding there is no currency for compromise in politics nowadays.
VANIER: Joining us now, Elie Honig in New York. He's a former federal prosecutor. How our investigator is going to get to the bottom of what really happened more than 30 years ago?
ELIE HONIG, FORMER, ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Well, there is some question about how this FBI investigation is going to be structured. Ideally, it would be run like any other investigation which is the FBI gets to do what it normally does in partially and completely. If there's a lead, they follow it regardless and you don't need to get political sign up.
Now, there's been various reporting that the White House of the Senate has tried to place limits or restrictions on what the FBI can and can't do. And as a former prosecutor, I see that is really problematic.
A proper investigation needs to be run impartially without regard to politics and it needs to be run completely in order to be legitimate.
VANIER: What's going to be the hardest thing to achieve in the next five days? What's the hardest part of the investigation?
HONIG: One thing that people need to understand is it is very unlikely there is going to be some sort of smoking gun piece of evidence where everyone looks at it and says, OK, that proves definitively that Dr. Ford or Judge Kavanaugh was telling the truth or not.
But what this is going to be is we're going to get hopefully a whole lot more information and every piece of that information either will corroborate some piece of Dr. Ford's testimony or some piece of Judge Kavanaugh's testimony, or will undermine it.
And hopefully, if we get enough of that information, we'll have a much more informed basis on which to decide who is credible and who is not.
[01:20:11] VANIER: Right. So, it's about painting a picture, filling in the many blanks and the many gray areas. Now, the FBI can't force anybody to answer their questions, correct?
HONIG: Correct. It does not appear that FBI has subpoena power here because this is not a criminal investigation. If it was, they would have the ability to compel testimony, compel documents, compel e- mails, that kind of thing through subpoenas. This is technically a background check. So, they do not have that authority.
VANIER: Because there's a key witness here, Mark Judge, Dr. Ford, the accuser says that he was in the room. He was a witness to her alleged assault. She puts him in the room at the time when it happened.
He's provided statements, yes, but he didn't want to be interviewed. So, the FBI can't force him to answer their questions.
HONIG: At this point, it appears that they cannot. Obviously, Mark Judge is a key witness. According to Dr. Ford, as you said he's the third person in the room. He submitted a one-page letter through counsel and then -- and then, individually, to the Senate Judiciary Committee which just sort of said next to nothing.
He said, "I do not recall the events that Dr. Ford talks about." Judge Kavanaugh, I think misleadingly referred to that as exonerating him. It does no such thing. Especially, if Mark Judge was on heavily under the influence of alcohol that night. As he himself has admitted he frequently was.
And as Dr. Ford says, both Judge and Kavanaugh were heavily drunk that night. So, he does need to be examined. It's not clear whether he'll speak with the FBI or not. If he won't, then there's probably not a heck of a lot the FBI can do about it. I suppose the FBI can request that Congress exercised its subpoena authority. That may be a sort of a chess move that they can make if they feel it's really important to get him in.
VANIER: Right, which the Senate Judiciary Committee has declined to do at least until now. Now, the FBI was given a week to do this. Do you think that's enough?
HONIG: I do. The FBI has enormous manpower, woman power. They can get an awful lot done fast. They have thousands and thousands of agents they react to emergent situations all the time. And so, I think the FBI absolutely has the ability to divert as many resources as are necessary and get this done in a week. I do think it's quite possible.
What you're looking at here largely, it in part because of the age of the case is witness testimony in an interview. Now, one interview could lead to a next, and there will be other documents out there. We've talked about yearbooks and safe way records and things that corroborate or disprove some of the -- some of the testimony that's been given.
But this is not a more modern case where you might -- for example, subpoena a computer and have tens of thousands of files in there that need to be gone through obviously 1983, predates sort of the modern era of technology. So, I do think they can get this done in a week.
VANIER: That's good to know that we might know everything we need to know by Friday. And when I say, we, actually that's not accurate, I should say the Senators.
HONIG: Right.
VANIER: Do you think the public is going to know what the investigation turned up?
HONIG: I think we will be hearing leaks from both sides, given how things have gone so far. I -- if I had to guess knowing the way our Senate works, both sides will probably leak those facts that they see is favorable to them.
I am hopeful that there will be some sort of formal report. Either that the FBI's documents that are turned over to the Senate become public in some way or another.
VANIER: All right. Elie Honig, thank you so much for your expertise. That's great. We really appreciate it throwing some light on how this is all working out. Thank you.
HONIG: Thanks.
ALLEN: So, three women have accused Judge Kavanaugh. Of course, Dr. Ford who testified on Thursday. Also, a former Yale classmate two of the judges, Deborah Ramirez. She has now spoken to the FBI with her story. And there's a third woman who wants to talk with investigators. For more on all of this, here's CNN's Sara Sidner. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The newly ordered FBI background investigation has begun into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. After questions over its scope, the president responded with this.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The FBI I believe is doing a really great job. They have been all over. They have free rein. They're going to do whatever they have to do, whatever it is they do. They'll be doing things that we never even thought of.
SIDNER: So, far it appears FBI agents are focusing on the accusations of two women. Deborah Ramirez, who says she met Kavanaugh while the two attended Yale and Christine Blasey Ford who says she met Kavanaugh in high school.
The Senate Judiciary Committee and the country has already heard the emotion-filled sworn testimony from Dr. Blasey Ford, who says as a teen, Kavanaugh held her down and she thought he was going to rape her while he and his friend, Mark Judge were drunk.
CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD, ACCUSER TO BRETT KAVANAUGH: Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two. And they're having fun at my expense.
SIDNER: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at times tearfully and often angrily denied the allegations against him.
[01:25:00] BRETT KAVANAUGH, UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations.
SIDNER: But neither the committee nor the country has heard a full accounting from Kavanaugh's two other accusers. Deborah Ramirez told The New Yorker, the details are fuzzy, but she remembers playing a drinking game with Kavanaugh and his friends in a Yale dorm room where she quickly became inebriated. She says after carefully assessing her memories, she remembers this.
"Brett was laughing," she told the New Yorker. "I can still see his face and his hips coming forward like when you pull up your pants." Somebody yelled down the hall, 'Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie's face."
So far, Julie Swetnick, the third to come forward with accusations against Kavanaugh has heard nothing from investigators.
JULIE SWETNICK, ACCUSER TO BRETT KAVANAUGH: If he's going to have that seat legitimately, all of these things should be investigated. Because from what I experienced firsthand, I don't think he belongs on the Supreme Court.
SIDNER: She is the only one of the three to have initially sent a sworn declaration under penalty of perjury to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In it, she claims she witnessed Kavanaugh being abusive toward girls and attempting to remove or ship their clothes to expose private body parts. She says, at party, she witnessed efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh, and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented, so they could then, be gang-raped.
She does not say she saw Kavanaugh actually taking part in a rape. Her attorney said she stopped going to the parties after she herself was gang-raped at one of those parties. Kavanaugh was asked about her allegations.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: What you're saying if I understand it, is that the allegations by Dr. Ford, Miss Ramirez, and Miss Swetnick are wrong.
SIDNER: Swetnick's attorney, Michael Avenatti, says she has not been contacted by the FBI, and the clock is ticking. Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:26] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. Good to have you back. I'm Cyril Vanier.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories this hour.
A source tells CNN, the FBI has spoken with Deborah Ramirez in its investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Ramirez has accused him of exposing himself to her at a party when they both attended Yale University. Kavanaugh denies that happened. The source says Ramirez gave names of witnesses to the FBI.
VANIER: Indonesian officials plan to hold mass burials on Monday for victims of Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami. More than 830 people were killed in the disaster and that number will likely rise. Rescue workers are scrambling to dig out any survivors from the rubble.
ALLEN: Negotiators from the U.S. and Canada just beat a midnight deadline agreeing to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA. Canada has now signed on to the re-written pct with the U.S. and Mexico. U.S. officials say the deal will address trade imbalances and rules for auto export as well as open up Canada's dairy sector.
VANIER: Macedonians went to the polls on Sunday to vote on whether the country should change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. Now voter turnout was low and that means the outcome is unclear. But the referendum is not binding and the Prime Minister could seek the name change regardless of these results.
ALLEN: If you're wondering what is the big deal over the name? Well here it is. A new name would clear the way for E.U. and NATO membership and appease Greece which has opposed Macedonia's entry. Greece says only its Macedonia region can use that name. VANIER: While Macedonians are debating just how far they will go to get into the European Union, people in the U.K. are debating how far they'll go to get out. Brexit is now less than six months away and British Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to convince her party that she can still negotiate with the European Union.
Her party is kicking off day two of its Birmingham conference. And she's insisting that her Chequers plan can still work despite the criticism from some of her fellow conservatives.
ALLEN: Mrs. May has tried to strike a diplomatic tone with the E.U.; her foreign secretary not so much. On Sunday Jeremy Hunt compared the E.U. to what he calls the prison of the former Soviet Union.
VANIER: Calls have been mounting at the U.N. to have Venezuela investigated by the International Criminal Court.
ALLEN: The country has been rocked by an economic and humanitarian crisis as we know and many say the government is to blame.
Dan Rivers from ITD News has this look at conditions in Venezuela.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, ITD NEWS: The human cost of Venezuela's hyper inflation can be seen at every bank in Maracaibo. Is it the cash point queue from hell where your money is worth less than when you joined the line? And all you can withdraw is the equivalent of 12 pence.
A run on the currency has turned into a mass scramble for survival.
[GRAPHIC UNREADABLE]
RIVERS: On average Venezuelans have lost 11 kilos in the last year and it shows. Hunger in a country rich in natural resources.
These queues are symptomatic of complete economic meltdown. People are desperate to get their money out and spend it before it becomes worthless because prices are doubling every few days.
The people here in the last two weeks, five people have died while queuing up trying to get a little cash.
Many are at a breaking point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom is what I want, not this anguish and agony of living like this in this country. Our children have to sleep outside on a mattress like dogs.
RIVERS: Many blame President Maduro who's continued Hugo Chavez's hardline socialist policies. It hasn't stopped him enjoying himself though. Last week, he was filmed at a top restaurant in Istanbul, a celebrity chef carving him lavish portions of meat.
Contrast this with what his people face in Venezuela's supermarkets.
But it's not just empty food shelves. Many don't even have running water now.
In a country that used to be one of Latin America's most wealthy, people are reduced to filling up water containers in the street from one of the few working pipes then carting it home.
[01:34:59] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to leave our house to get water like this every day (INAUDIBLE) problems with the water and to bring the water home which is so different (ph).
RIVERS: Anger often boils over into protests -- mothers banging their cooking pos because there's no food to put in them. The authorities try to put a lid on the simmering discontent with overwhelming force.
Those that end up in hospital face grim conditions. Doctors operate using their phones for light because the surgical lamps no longer work. Most of the city has been plunged into darkness, a life being lived without light, without hope.
Restrictions and power cuts mean it can take five hours to fill up your car here, ironic in a country with the world's biggest oil reserves.
So a flourishing black market in illegal fuel has sprung where you pay a thousand times the official price. Maracaibo was once the Dallas of Venezuela. But after years of government mismanagement and meddling oil production has collapsed to a 50-year-low. The pride of Venezuela is (INAUDIBLE) below the water line causing an environmental disaster.
The government recently issued a new currency lopping five zeros off the old one. But new orals (ph) Venezuela's money is barely worth the paper it's printed on. It only value now is as the childhood destruction from the depravation of a country that has sunk into an economic abyss.
Dan Rivers, ITB News -- Maracaibo
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: That story certainly reflects what people are dealing with. Thanks again to Dan Rivers from ITB for that.
VANIER: Great reporting.
Typhoon Trami pounded western Japan before heading toward Tokyo on Sunday. NHK Televisions reports that powerful winds and heavy rains forced the cancellation of more than 1,200 flights. Train service was suspended as well. More than 1.5 million households were ordered to evacuate.
All right. Let's go to the CNN Weather Center. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is standing by. Pedram -- good to talk to you, tell us what we need to know.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is a storm system that has set many records across this region. Of course, it's had so much rainfall in the last couple of days with a system that we're tracking for about a week's period now.
And after it made landfall very quickly now migrating off to the north and east and really beginning to see actually clear skies after the system passes here. So conditions in that sense are beginning to improve.
But notice this, when it comes to tropical systems, typhoons, super typhoons in the western Pacific this season, we have just about exceeded every single one of those for what we're supposed to see, climatologically-speaking.
About a half meter of rainfall scattered about from portions of southern Japan into central Japan in the last couple of days and of course wind gusts in excess of 150 or more kilometers per hour; all of this in and around Tokyo so certainly you've seen some disruptions across that region.
And when you talk about some 1,200 flights being impacted you can see why it was a system with this strength moving across the area. But that's to the north. I mean that's all out of here but notice what's happening to the south.
That's the next system in line here, very impressive presentation much like Trami was about a week ago, and of course, a very impressive system 175 kilometer per hour winds. That is equivalent to just-shy of what would be a Category 3 system sitting out there. And tell you what, in the next 24 hours it not only exceeds Category 3, maybe gets to borderline Category 4 equivalent.
And that remains rather strong for a couple of days when it impacts areas around Ryukyu Island, that would be in the middle of the week. It weakens just a little bit, still close to a Category 3 system and then beyond that is going to get really tricky here as far as where the system ends up sometime say between Thursday and Saturday.
In fact the most reliable models, the American and the European, almost going entirely in different directions here as far as where this system is going. So we're going to watch this as it approaches the southern portion of the Ryukyu area near Okinawa and then update you as the week progresses -- guys.
ALLEN: Thanks -- Pedram. I'm sure Japan will be glad when storm season is over. My goodness.
JAVAHERI: My goodness. Yes, absolutely.
ALLEN: They've had so many. Thanks -- Pedram.
VANIER: Thanks -- Pedram.
ALLEN: An outspoken Iraqi social media star and beauty queen suffers a terrible fate. She's killed after challenging conservative social norms. We'll have her story coming up.
[01:39:18] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VANIER: Rebels have been fighting government forces and their allies in Syria for seven years. Hundreds of thousands of people have died. The U.N. in fact estimates there are 13 million people in need of aid in Syria at the moment.
Among others, one Christian organization answered the call for aid. To help the Sunni Muslims, the group teamed up with an Israeli mission -- a model of religious tolerance, a rare occurrence in this country.
Ian Lee has their story and we must warn you some of the images are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This journey begins with a strong heart and faith in Jesus, over the Hermon Mountains into southern Syria to war-torn towns you've never heard of.
For Dr. Tania Cabrara (ph), the calling was overpowering.
DR. TANIA CABRARA, GENERAL PRACTITIONER (through translator): It was a very important decision in my life. I know Christ was acting through me. I was able to give to these people the way Christ gave of himself to us.
LEE: Nothing could prepare the 29-year-old from Peru.
CABRARA: One day a lot of children arrived. I am not going to forget evaluating a child with a wound on the back of his head. It was open and I could put my hands in. And it was very hard to see him cry.
LEE: For nearly a year dozens of volunteers from the Christian organization Frontier Alliance International lived, worked and provided comfort to the injured, dying and newly-born in Syria.
Now back in Israel, they recall the moment of hope for the helpless like a baby's first lullaby.
Dalton Thomas (ph) organized the relief work finding those willing to take the risk to help a stranger.
DALTON THOMAS, FRONTIER ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL: So many nights of heavy bombings and mass casualties where the locals would say you know you can leave, right? I said we're not leaving. We're here.
And finding that kind of a person who has the character, the integrity, the courage, the composition to put themselves in that kind of an environment -- because these guys weren't going and coming out, going and coming out. They were going in to live in the community.
LEE: FAI teamed up with Operation Good Neighbor, an Israeli mission that delivered tons of food, medical supplies, clothes and tents while treating thousand of injured Syrians and Israeli hospitals.
LT. COL EYAL DIOR (ph), ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: What I've learned these last two and a half years is there is anything that is making you feel better than to save people lives, even though these are your enemy from the past.
[01:44:58] THOMAS: It sounds like the beginning of a joke, you know. Like a sense of Israeli army, a Christian organization, Sunni Muslims in Syria -- it is a bizarre relation triangle.
LEE: The volunteers couldn't stay. The Assad regime and its allies closed in, certain doom awaited any remaining foreigner. Operation Good Neighbor had to end. So one night the call came for them to leave.
CABRARA: This separation was a pain like they were taking away a child from your womb, a child you developed with such love and they took it away from you. We left in tears.
LEE: But they left making their mark, carried there and back by fate.
Ian Lee, CNN -- in the Golan Heights.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Terrific story there from Ian.
Iraqi officials are investigating a disturbing trend after the killing of another outspoken female personality. Tara Fares was a former beauty queen whose lifestyle challenged the conservative norms of her country.
Our Ben Wedeman has her story from Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She was a social media personality the likes of which Iraq hadn't seen. Twenty-two year old Tara Fares projected an image on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube of a fun-loving, carefree, modern young woman unencumbered by the norms of a society with a strong streak of conservatism.
Last Thursday unknown gunmen shot her three times in her car in central Baghdad, her death caught on closed-circuit television. Tara Fares was born out of the mold, the daughter of an Iraqi Christian father and a Lebanese Shia Muslim mother. She won the title of Miss Baghdad and in 2014 was the runner-up for Miss Iraq.
But as she explains in this interview, her short life story was not always a happy one. She married at 16 and soon gave birth to a son. But her husband beat her, she says, and forced her to leave school.
Divorce soon followed. After forcibly taking away their son, her ex- husband moved to Turkey and remarried. Yet she carried on gaining fame for her daring posts, winning millions of online followers.
Three years ago, she left Baghdad and moved to Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan where she felt safer but often returned to her native city for photo shoots and to visit her family.
Fares is just the latest online female personality or activist to die an untimely death in Iraq. And the government has launched an investigation to see if there's a link between them.
Fares' murder sparked an outburst of grief in her followers but not all mourned her death. One journalist with state media calling her a whore on social media; he has subsequently been fired.
The last image to appear on her Instagram account shows her in black and white with the words, "peace be upon her soul, Tara Fares".
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: Stay with us. We're back right after this.
[01:48:08] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAVAHERI: Good Monday to you. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for CNN Weather Watch.
October is upon us -- the warmth, certainly not going anywhere, at least not anytime soon across the southern U.S.
While back towards the west, some wet weather to tell you about and off towards the northeast, we do have a system swinging by as well. And that will cause for some inclement weather across the streets and maybe some disruptions into the airports in and around parts of the upper Midwest into Monday afternoon.
But highs look as such. How about 23 in Chicago -- very mild if you ask me for this time of year. New York does one better at 24 degrees. We do have some big-time heat back around portions of the southwest into the upper 20s and lower 30s there.
But notice the cool air that's in place, at least in areas of Canada. It retreats rather quickly and eventually we have a widespread swath of warm air locked in across the northeastern United State, climbing up to 26 degrees, 21 what is normal for this time of year.
And by this weekend we'll approach that as some cooler air is in store. We also have a tropical system to tell you about. Not very impressive on satellite imagery but it's really the areas it's going to impact that's going to be more impressive.
The heavy rainfall as a tropical depression at that point works its way into one of the driest corners of the United States into the (INAUDIBLE) and Mojave Desert. There was some heavy rainfall certainly.
Nassau afternoon thunderstorms will go for about 30 degrees; Kingston same score; Belize City also at 30 degrees there plus a few storms possible. Manaus comes in with a high 37 and sunny skies.
VANIER: The MandaLao elephant retreat in Laos isn't like a typical elephant camp. There are no rides, no circus tricks. Instead the huge mammals simply get to live.
ALLEN: In this week's "Destination: Laos" segment, we explore MandaLao's elephant sanctuary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Laos, a country once home to the great kingdom of Lan Xang or the land of a million elephants. But today there are fewer than a thousand left in Laos due to poaching and habitat loss.
Here at MandaLao Elephant Conservation, there are nine -- all rescues from the country's logging camps.
MICHAEL VOGLER, CO-FOUNDER, MANDALAO ELEPHANT CONSERVATION: I think that elephants especially really enjoy human companionship when it's done in the right way.
ALLEN: For Michael Vogler who co-founded MandaLao in 2016, the right way starts with ethical treatment. The company is the first and only non-riding elephant sanctuary in Luang Prabang.
And Vogler says it doesn't stop there. The elephants here are able to socialize, maintain a diverse diet and roam around chain-free.
VOGLER: We don't use any hooks or hammers or tools to force the elephants to do anything. We use baskets of bananas and normally an elephant's stomach is going to outweigh its desire not to listen.
ALLEN: In Laos, the rainy season means mud and lots of it. It's messy for the human visitors but a sheer delight for the pachyderm. In the jungle and into the stream, the elephants are free to explore 200 hectares of land that MandaLao rents from 30 local families.
Vi Tahn Porng (ph) is in his 70s. He's been working with elephants for more than 25 years, starting in the logging business.
VI TAHN PORNG: I have a very close relationship with the elephants because my income and livelihood depend on them. I can't live without these elephants.
ALLEN: Elephants are a powerful symbol for the Lao people but their numbers are in steep (ph) decline. In just three generations the population of Asian elephants has dropped by half. To combat this, one of MandaLao's long-term goals is to reintroduce elephants back into the wild, including two-and-a-half year old Baby Kit.
VOGLER: The more time that I got to spend with elephants, the more I realize that they must hold some ancient wisdom. When you're round such incredible creatures especially ones that have gone through such hard lives before and they can show such compassion after being treated like that for so many years. It makes you kind of rethink your position in the world and how you treat other people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:55:07] ALLEN: That was interesting.
VANIER: Really nice story. Golf's Ryder Cup is back in European hands. Team U.S.A. was
thoroughly, thoroughly outplayed. Come on. Le Golf National in France.
ALLEN: I can cheer for other countries, too. It's now been 25 years since the U.S. last won the event on European soil. CNN's Alex Thomas has more from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It was around 5:00 in the afternoon that the crucial winning moment came in this year's Ryder Cup. Behind me the 18th green in front of that huge grandstand holding more than 6,000 fans, as noisy as a football crowd, (INAUDIBLE) spectators at a golf event saw Ian Poulter down, the world number 1 from America Dustin Johnson who came away with just one point from his five matches.
Moments later here on this 16th tee, Francisco Molinari and Phil Mickelson played their shots towards that green behind me there. Molinari in the center of the green, Mickelson's ball found the water and he offered his hand up to the Italian. That match was over. Molinari had won and Europe had regained the Ryder Cup.
Hugely impressive for Molinari who became the first European to win all five points in his five matches; five and zero for the week for the man who'd won him his first major earlier this year at Britain's Open Golf Championship.
It started a huge party but it's still going on as I speak now as the sun goes down, as the fans west village in the distance there. Have a listen. You can probably hear them chanting Frankie, Frankie, Frankie, Frankie, Frankie. And Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. Lots of songs going on, huge celebrations from the fans and the European players too. The Ryder Cup is back on this side of the Atlantic for the seventh time in nine Ryder Cups.
Alex Thomas, CNN -- Le Golf National, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Finally this hour Serena Williams, the tennis star is lending her voice to breast cancer awareness. The tennis star recorded a topless cover of the Divinyls hit song, "I Touch Myself". Williams says it's a reminder for women to self check regularly. The 23-time Grand Slam champ says the video put her out of her comfort zone but she wanted to do it because it is an issue that affects all women.
VANIER: All right. Great to have had you with us. Thanks for watching. I'm Cyril Vanier.
ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. The news continues next with our colleague and friend George Howell. Thanks for watching.
[01:57:36] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
