Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Data and Voice Recorders Are Recovered in Ethiopian Airlines Crash; Algerian Pres. Bouteflika Will Not Seek Fifth Term; Maduro Blasts Power Outage As "Electric Coup"; U.S. President Trump On Getting It Right, Or Wrong. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 12, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Theresa May touts a breakthrough, Britain's prime minister agrees to some last-minute changes in her Brexit deal with the E.U. and hopes Parliament will let it pass in the coming hours.
Plus new questions around the Boeing 737 MAX 8, as a number of countries ground the plane after the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed everyone on board.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the university hospital. It's supposed to be one of the best. No light.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (voice-over): Even the best hospitals in Venezuela cannot treat their gravely ill patients. See how doctors and nurses are trying to save lives in deteriorating conditions.
Hello and welcome to are viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: The British prime minister Theresa May says she has reached a Brexit breakthrough. The E.U. has agreed to legally binding changes and will work on alternatives for the Irish backstop.
Now comes the hard part: getting Parliament to agree before the Brexit deadline, now just 17 days away. CNN's Bianca Nobilo has more from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker announced Monday evening that they've made legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement.
For several weeks now, the Prime Minister has been trying to pursue such legally binding changes to the backstop, the most controversial aspect of that withdrawal agreement. The part that would prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
That was a demand of her Brexiteers that she felt she needed to address in order to give her deal a good chance of passing. Tonight we heard from the Prime Minister that she has agreed an arbitration mechanism with the E.U. but no time limit which was a concern for a number within her own party.
Both sides also declared an aspiration for alternative arrangements to be in place instead of the backstop by December 2020.
THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: The U.K. and the E.U. have made a joint statement in relation to the political declaration. It sets out a number of commitments to enhance and expedite the process of negotiating and bringing into force the future relationship. And it makes the legal commitment that the U.K. and the EU will begin work immediately to replace the backstop with alternative arrangements by the end of December 2020.
NOBILO: Theresa May will present her deal to the House of Commons for a second time Tuesday after the first attempt failed by a historic margin of 230 votes. She'll be hoping that these last-minute changes she's been able to secure with the E.U. will be enough to win over the support of her backbench Brexiteers as well as some members of the opposition Labour Party -- Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And for analysis I'm joined now by David M. Herszenhorn. He is the chief Brussels correspondent for "Politico."
Thank you so much for joining us.
So with just 17 days left to go and not a lot of detail to go on, how likely is it that lawmakers will support Theresa May's so-called improved Brexit deal when it goes before them in just a few hours from now?
DAVID M. HERSZENHORN, "POLITICO": Well, I'm sitting in Brussels and my colleagues from London might have a better sense of that. But throughout the Brexit process, nothing has been predictable. We know there's been a need for this kind of assurance. But not much has changed.
One thing we did not hear yesterday was any big reaction out of Ireland. If there's anything that troubled Dublin that this backstop was changing in any significant way, you would've heard a lot from the Irish prime minister, the Irish foreign minister.
So the question really becomes, as we were hearing, is there enough political cover in these so-called legal assurances, given that withdrawal treatment negotiated back in November was never reopened and was never changed.
From the E.U. point of view, that backstop is still rock solid. We've heard some analysis out of the U.K. It's believed they have a unilateral ability to withdraw if necessary. I don't think that view is shared here in Brussels among E.U. folks.
But the real question, because the legal point won't be tested, if ever, until years from now, will the House of Commons vote in favor of ratifying this withdrawal treaty?
They refused to do that in January. We'll have another chance later today.
CHURCH: As you mentioned, the new deal includes legally binding changes --
[02:05:00]
CHURCH: -- to the Irish backstop. But you don't seem to think that though goes far enough to satisfy the critics.
Do you agree?
HERSZENHORN: It's just uncertain, I wouldn't call them legally binding changes. It's more like legally binding assurances. A lot of what they're referring to, including arbitration mechanisms and very complicated procedures, were in the deal negotiated in November.
We have to remember that the European Council, the 27 heads of state and government remaining in the E.U., have given no new marching orders to the folks at the European Commission since December.
They said they were willing to reassure the U.K., that the backstop was meant to be temporary if it's ever used. The idea of the backstop is it prevents the recreation of a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
So they've done that, they've given those reassurances. The question is will it be enough and we just don't know.
CHURCH: But from what you're saying, there doesn't seem to be much of a change. Even though prime minister Theresa May is selling this as a new and improved Brexit plan, you're basically saying, it hasn't changed very much. It's not going to be any different, which mean the outcome will not be any different.
HERSZENHORN: This may new and better understood Brexit plan. There is a lot of feeling, especially here in Brussels but also I think among Theresa May and some members of her team, that when the House of Commons rejected this deal in January, it was making a mistake and, in fact, they guarantee that MPs were seeking on the British side were already built into the agreement.
If we go back through these months of negotiation, the original proposal on the backstop that the E.U. put forward focused only on Northern Ireland. That was changed dramatically to be an all-U.K. backstop, at the request of Theresa May's negotiators.
This is U.K.-designed backstop that has become so controversial. So for the folks who agreed with this deal in November, and that is Theresa May and her team and the folks on tax force 50 here in Brussels and the E.U., all these assurances were there. The MPs didn't quite buy it. They weren't ready to support it in January.
The hope is now that we're looking closer at this cliff edge, the choice between having a way out of the E.U. and achieving Brexit, as opposed to the potential economic calamity of a no deal scenario, will clarify some minds and sharpen people's intentions and get them to vote in favor of it.
CHURCH: You're right. And, of course, we know that opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is calling on lawmakers to reject the prime minister's new Brexit deal.
If they do that, what does happen next?
(CROSSTALK)
CHURCH: Can you see Britain crashing out?
HERSZENHORN: No, I don't think that will happen; the danger there, the risk of a real economic damage is so great that we think if they reject this deal, the next vote would be one where the Parliament would not abide a no deal scenario.
So that's probably not on the table. But Corbyn's is hugely important, because Theresa May may not be able to pull together all the votes she needs in her own Tory Party. One thing she hasn't done is build across party consensus, that takes the politics out of this.
So Parliament is clearly intent on taking down that Tory government. Brexit is sort of side note to his larger political goals, which is ultimately to force a national election. And there's nothing that she's done to take the politics out of it and give his folks incentive to come around, behind, in support of this treaty.
CHURCH: So it looks like a delay and looks like kicking the can down the road just a little bit. All right, David, we thank you so much for joining us, we appreciate it.
Well, a second deadly crash in less than five months of Boeing's prized new airplane, the 737 MAX 8, is raising new safety concerns that could shape the travel industry and Boeing's future for years to come. A growing list of countries, including China and Indonesia, India and South Korea, Mexico and Argentina, are grounding their Boeing 737 MAX 8s as a precaution after Sunday's crash in Ethiopia, that killed 157 people.
The move to ground the jets is not good news for Boeing or its investors, who watched the company's stock plunge more than 13 percent at one point on Monday before recouping some of those losses. The company says it's saddened by the loss of life and has a technical
team in Ethiopia to help the investigation. It also announced a new software upgrade that has been in the works since the Lion Air crash back in October but says it's too early to know what caused Sunday's crash.
Well, CNN's Farai Sevenzo is in Nairobi, Kenya, and he joins us now.
Farai, a global tragedy with so many different nationalities on that plane, heading to Nairobi. That was the aim; they didn't make it.
What more are you learning about the people on board that doomed flight?
[02:10:00]
FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly, Rosemary, let's start here with the pilot. He's half Ethiopian, half Kenyan. They said -- this is the Ethiopian Airlines -- the CEO said that he had flown more than 8,000 hours but he had an excellent flying record, which begs the question, if the pilot was so good, what was wrong with what he was piloting?
And about the nationalities, it was over 35 natives were involved. I'm looking at a file of victims there. I can see three from the Russian embassy, WFP los six people -- seven, actually; I beg your pardon -- Egyptian foreign ministry lost six people; 32 Kenyans died, including a man who was from the Kenyan Football Federation.
This is a shut (ph) of life from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. Nairobi is the headquarters of the United Nations on this continent and, of course, Addis Ababa is the seat of the African Union. So they go back and forth to talk to policymakers and many of them live here.
Slovakia, Tunisia, a man from Hong Kong, an archeologist from Italy. Ethiopia, a longstanding place for antiquities. He was just going about (ph) his work. So it is indeed a cross-section of people. And just to bring it home, it could have been any one of my team.
If I'm flying from London, I would go by Ethiopia, for example, if there's no quicker flights. And I would take the shuttle from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. So it's absolutely true that -- and then, of course, you must consider Africa's new place in geopolitics. Everybody's interested in this continent. The Chinese lost eight people.
They are all trying to make deals with the continent thus fast movement (ph) on the rise.
CHURCH: And, Farai, how are Kenyans reacting to this?
And the new investigation that has followed, given the frequent use of this very same from Addis Ababa.
SEVENZO: Kenyans are quite numbed by the events on Sunday morning in Addis Ababa. They are keen to tell us, though -- yesterday, for example, just a day later after Sunday's tragic event, we spoke to a young Kenyan woman, coming out of Washington, D.C., who took that very same flight from Addis Ababa to come to Nairobi on Monday.
And she was nervous about flying but Ethiopians have been at pains to tell us this is an airline that does 300 flights a day. It's unusually popular with travelers and given the route it comes to Tuwesatese (ph), Africa, and Kenya, of course, huge hub of tourism.
It's hot out here right now; Mombasa is full; people are going to the muslimar (ph) to see the wild animals. So nothing has really slowed down and they're thinking it's not going to stop our tourism. And there is a kind of defiance. They need to get to bottom of why these things are happening, these kinds of flight accidents.
But the mood isn't in Nairobi is cautious but, of course, very tragic.
CHURCH: Absolutely tragic and, of course, so many people there in Kenya, in Ethiopia, right across the world want some answers and we're not getting them at this point.
Farai Sevenzo, reporting there live from Nairobi, Kenya, appreciate that.
We'll take a very short break here. When we come back, Nancy Pelosi is blunt in her view of the president's fitness for office but the U.S. House Speaker is taking a stand on impeachment. How that might play out with fellow Democrats.
Plus British officials say the price of joining ISIS is losing your citizenship. Now the family of a 19-year-old girl is pleading with them to reconsider. We'll have an update just ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: For the first time in 42 days, the White House held a news briefing Monday. It fell on the same day president Donald Trump submitted his budget proposal for 2020. But as Jim Acosta reports, that's not what most of the questions were about.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Asked about one of President Trump's latest line of attacks (sic) accusing Democrats of hating Jewish people, the White House doubled down, standing behind the incendiary comments.
SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think that's a question you will have to ask the Democrats.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Over the weekend, Axios reported that the president made the false claim at a private speech in Florida, repeating what he said on Friday.
TRUMP: The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party and a anti- Jewish party. And that's too bad.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Press secretary Sarah Sanders in her first briefing in more than 40 days defended the president's remarks, pointing to anti-Semitic comments made by Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, in which she tried to sidestep Trump's troubling rhetoric after the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville.
ACOSTA: (INAUDIBLE) debate when you're saying something that's just patently untrue.
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: Stating their policy positions --
ACOSTA: -- but Democrats don't hate Jewish people. It's just silly. It's not true.
SANDERS: I think they should call out their members by name and we've made that clear. I don't have anything further --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: -- after Charlottesville, saying that there are very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville, essentially suggesting that there are very fine people in the Nazis.
SANDERS: That's not at all what the president was stating. Them not at any point in our --
ACOSTA (voice-over): Sanders was also pressed on the Russia investigation, refusing to rule out a pardon for Paul Manafort.
SANDERS: The president made his position on that clear. He'll make a decision when he's ready.
ACOSTA (voice-over): And again, accusing the president's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, of lying to Congress when he denied seeking a pardon from the president.
SANDERS: What I can tell you is that Cohen's own attorney stated and contradicted his client when he said that he was aware that those conversations had taken place. I think that it's time to stop giving him a platform, let him go on to serve his time.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Sanders declined to comment on the checks signed by the president that Cohen says were used to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels.
SANDERS: I'm not aware of those specific --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He testified about this.
SANDERS: The president has been clear that there wasn't a campaign violation. Beyond that, I can't get -- I would refer you back to the president's comments.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The briefing was supposed to be about the president's newly proposed budget that seeks money for the border wall. Gone is the promise that Mexico will pay for it.
SANDERS: As the president has stated a number of times, through the U.S. MCA trade deal, that will be part of how it takes place.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The White House tried to blame Democrats for the mounting debt in the president's budget with trillion-dollar deficits projected.
RUSSELL VOUGHT, OMB: Congress has been ignoring the president's spending reductions for the last two years.
ACOSTA (voice-over): That's despite the president's promise to eliminate the national debt.
TRUMP: I know more about debt than practically anybody. I love debt. I also love reducing debt and I know how to do it better than anybody.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is still playing clean-up after he referred to Apple CEO Tim Cook as Tim Apple.
TRUMP: You have really put a big investment in our country. We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president tweeted that quickly referred to Tim plus Apple as Tim Apple as an easy way to save --
[02:20:00]
ACOSTA (voice-over): -- time and words. Sanders didn't answer that question as she ended the briefing.
SANDERS: Thanks so much, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- denying saying something that was caught on tape?
ACOSTA: Getting back to the president's comments about Democrats hating Jewish people, Sanders implied that the president has condemned Republican congressman Steve King for his remarks, praising white supremacy.
But the president has never done that publicly. Sanders said she was referring to her own comments about Congressman King. That's not the same as a statement of condemnation coming directly from the president -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Although the U.S. House Speaker thinks President Trump is unfit for office, she does not support forcing him out of office.
Nancy Pelosi spoke with "The Washington Post," saying this, "I'm not for impeachment. Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CALIF.), HOUSE SPEAKER: They wanted me to impeach President Bush for the Iraq War, I didn't believe in it then; I don't believe in it now. It divides the country, unless there's some conclusive evidence that takes us to that place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Pelosi's comment come on the heels of the House Judiciary Committee launching a sweeping investigation of Mr. Trump on allegations of corruption, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: So let's take a closer look at all of this with Gabby Orr, the White House reporter for "Politico."
Good to have you with us.
GABBY ORR, "POLITICO": Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: So why do you think Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to steer clear of any suggestion of going down the path of impeachment with President Trump?
And how big a split might her strategy cause within her own Democratic Party?
ORR: Well, one of the reasons why she came out with this pretty firm statement today against impeachment is because we're already seeing the Democratic Party split over whether or not to pursue impeachment against President Trump.
There are already several freshman Democratic members as long -- as well as other veteran Democrats, who have come out and said that we need to move forward on impeachment proceedings against this president. And they have various reasons as to why.
And Nancy Pelosi is sort of trying to steer her caucus into the direction of not pursuing that strategy. And there's several reasons for doing that. But one of which is Democrats are obviously heading into an intense reelection year in 2020.
There are number of seats that were won in 2018 in the midterms that were in Republican districts that might not be as easy to hold onto this time around. And pursuing an impeachment strategy could easily backfire in some of those districts that Democrats just gained in 2018.
CHURCH: Interesting. So, of course, we saw the White House eventually hold a press briefing Monday after more than 40 days to talk about the president's budget plans, but instead, it turns to his comments that the Democrats hate Jewish people. Why was press secretary Sarah Sanders in capable of giving a straight answer on that and what does it tell us about what's ahead with the campaign?
ORR: You know, I spoke with the White House special earlier today who said that this is something that they plan to highlight as much as possible. That being the anti-Semitic comments that make from Representative Ilhan Omar and any other comments down the road from Democratic members that may or may not be perceived as anti-Semitic.
They think that this is a winning strategy heading into 2020 that they can potentially siphon off Jewish voters who would typically support a Democratic nominee and Democratic candidates at the House and Senate level to instead support President Trump and Republicans if they can continue to convey that somehow the Democratic Party is becoming more and more anti-Jewish.
CHURCH: And Sanders also refused to rule out a pardon for Paul Manafort. What did that signal to you?
ORR: You know, I think it signals that that's obviously something that could be on the table.
[02:25:00]
ORR: The White House has been sort of off and on, on this question of whether they're even in talks with Manafort's legal team whether they've had discussions previously about pardoning him.
They -- some people say that they haven't, that it's never been a topic that has been broached. Others say that there is, you know, it's not entirely off the table, particularly because he did not cooperate with the special counsel investigation.
So, you know, I think that this is the answer that we could have expected to hear from Sarah Sanders today. And I'm sure that we'll hear it from other White House officials the more and more we probe that topic.
CHURCH: And, of course, we remind everyone, that this whole idea of this news briefing after more than 40 days was to talk about the budget; that didn't get much scrutiny. But Sanders also declined to get into the issue of the checks signed by the president -- or we saw his signature -- that his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said were linked to the hush money for porn star Stormy Daniels.
What did you make of that part of the briefing?
She was very reluctant to get drawn into any of that but it's going to keep coming up if she has another briefing.
ORR: It is going to keep coming up and the White House really needs to have a straight answer on this because if you go back and look at all the different statements that have not only been made by Sarah Sanders but by Rudy Giuliani, by the president himself, by Michael Cohen, by Cohen's legal team, none of them match up. And we're not getting a clear picture of what these payments were, when they were made, why they were made and who was responsible for them. The president said, during an appearance on FOX News with Sean Hannity, just several months back, that he was completely aware of these payments.
And now Sarah Sanders is saying that he wasn't or that she didn't know why they were made. So I think this is a question that will continue to come up. And in order to potentially avoid further legal problems, they need to just come up with a simple answer.
CHURCH: "Politico's" Gabby Orr, thank you so much for joining us, appreciate it.
ORR: Thank you so much, Rosemary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, big questions for Boeing after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, is its 737 MAX 8 safe to fly?
We will ask an aviation expert to weigh in on that very question next.
At one point ISIS controlled an estimated one-third of Iraq and Syria. Now that's down to little more than a neighborhood. We're live in Syria with an update on efforts to clean ISIS out once and for all.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Rosemary Church and these are the headlines this hour.
[02:30:00]
(HEADLINES)
Meantime, the U.S. says it's pulling all the remaining personnel from its embassy in Caracas. Investigators in Ethiopia have found both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from Sunday's Ethiopia Airlines crash. They are important clues which could help explain why the Boeing 737 MAX 8 Jet went down minutes after takeoff, killing all one hundred and fifty seven people on board.
Well meantime, a growing list of airlines and countries are grounding their MAX 8 fleet as a precaution, it's the same brand-new model of plane as the Lion Air crash back in October, though there's no evidence as of now that the two incidents are linked. Boeing has technical team in Ethiopia to help with the current investigation. It also announces a new software upgrade that's been in the work since the Lion Air crash. It's too early to know what caused Sunday's crash. So let's bring in Allen Deal, he is a former U.S. Accident
Investigator and has a wide range of experience even writing the book called, Air Safety Investigators Using Science to Save Lives-One Crash at a Time. Allen joins us now from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Good to have you with us. So --
ALAN DIEHL, ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR: Thanks for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Of course, the first question to ask, the one we all want an answer too, is the Boeing 737 Max 8 a safe plane to fly or should be grounded until we have more information about, two of these -- after two these new planes fell out of the sky within, what? Five months of each other.
DIEHL: Yes, that's very unusual obviously, Rosemary. We've seen a similar situation with the Boeing Dreamliner, the 787, that was a battery problem nobody got killed, but we lose over 300 people on these two accidents. But as you pointed out in your intro, we really don't know at this point if they're linked together. And clearly the people at Boeing and the FAA in the States have been looking at a fix after the October crashed of the Lion Air 737 Max.
And I think that certainly make the aircraft safer. Are they safe today? I think there are still some problems, should they all be grounded? You know, that's really up to the national authorities and the airlines in each country, but I'd be a little nervous about getting on one but you know, you have to keep in mind everything is relative. Your aviation safety is so safe compared to driving, any distance, you're probably better getting on a -- you're certainly better getting on a Max 8 -- a 737 Max 8 than you are cancelling your fright and driving.
CHURCH: Right, I mean, I don't know about you, but I do want some more answers before I got on the plane or my kids. Now, there are significant similarities between the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday and the Lion Air flight that went down in October last year near Jakarta, Indonesia, but there are also significant differences aren't they? With fluctuations in air speed in the Lion Air flight, data was received right up the impact, while the Ethiopian Airlines' flight had no fluctuation in transmission seized, what does that tell you?
DIEHL: Well, it tells me there may be some electronic problems also involved in the Ethiopian crash besides the so-called Maneuvering Characteristic Augmentation System. So, you're right, there's a lot of similarities. The fact that -- particularly in the Ethiopian Aircraft that immediately within seconds after takeoff. The plane was climbing and then it started descending and of course, that's not normal.
Now, both aircraft did that eventually but it looked like the onset of the decent was much quicker in the Lion -- in the Ethiopian Aircraft than in the Lion Aircraft -- Lion Air aircraft. So, yes, there are some differences. Clearly the software fix when you read through the preliminary information that was released today, it looks like it's going to go a long way to limiting the ability of these anti-stall devices, software device that Boeing installed on all the 737 Max 8 initially.
[02:35:02] They're going to modify that, so it doesn't have quit as much as they say, authority to take the aircraft away from the pilots. So, it looks like they're going to -- they're going to -- certainly going to fix some of the problems and is that the only problem? Well, we'll have to wait until the recorders are red in the case of the Ethiopian jet.
[02:35:00] CHURCH: Right. And that does seem to be keyed, doesn't it? Because after the Lion Air crash on October last year. Boeing did issue a bulletin recommending that all pilots take training to avoid making the same mistake but didn't make that training mandatory. What was that mistake that they referred too and why wouldn't training be mandatory, when you could be talking about the difference between life or death?
DIEHL: Well, it's up to the National Aviation Authorities to mandate the training and of course the Airlines into it. Boeing I don't -- Boeing doesn't have the authority to dictate that the training unlike the National Aviation Authorities like the FAA. The problem was that when Boeing was marketing this aircraft they didn't fully -- they may have informed some of the people at the some airlines, but they certainly tried to convince them that no additional training would be needed.
The new automation will -- even though the aircraft has more powerful engines and can get itself into a high steep angle, and therefore, a stall, the aerodynamic stall, this software well the fix the problem, so you don't even have to spend time training your pilots. Yes, it's in the handbook, it's kind of buried there, but they didn't require the pilots to undergo specialized training and dealing with this new piece of automation.
That was probably a mistake and that may have been partially responsible for the Lion Air crash and we'll have to wait and see on the Ethiopian Air. But, yes, that was a mistake and that's being fixed. Yes, right after the accident they came out and said everybody read manuals, OK?
CHURCH: Yes.
DIEHL: And be aware that this can happen, and if it does, there is a relatively simple that it would seem fixed in the -- or countermeasures that the pilots can take. And they have to throw two switches, these switches are located near the throttles, you throw those two switches and then you -- manually, you have unfolded a crank handle and manually reach from the aircraft. Now, that sounds pretty simple but in the chaos of Automatic Warning
Systems going off and so called stick shakers, vibrating your control wheel, things can get very confusing.
And of course, if you don't know or you don't fully understand the automation, I can see where pilots would hesitate. But now if they are briefed on it and they know how to handle it should -- it should go a long way to helping, but clearly the software fixes which should be in -- mandated by the FAA which only affects the US, of course. CHURCH: Yes.
DIEHL: By the end of April, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Right. It seems -- it seems obvious doesn't it? But apparently, anyway we will see, still a lot of - a lot of questions need to be answered. Allen Deal, thank you so much, we appreciate your analysis on this.
DIEHL: Thanks for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And you can stay up to date with the latest news on the Ethiopian Airline crash, we are tracking it all live just head to CNN.com. Well, the ISIS Caliphate that once stretch between Iraq and Syria is now down to a square kilometer or less. U.S.-Backed Allied Forces are bombarding that last enclave with airstrikes and mortars and have been for the better part of the month.
And you can see in this CNN exclusive video the explosion is lighting up the night sky. Ben Wedeman, his Producer, Kareem Khadder, Cameraman Scott McWhinnie and team member Adam Dobby are near the frontlines and Ben joins us now live. Always good to see you, Ben. We talked this time yesterday. What has happened since then? What has changed? And how much closer are you closer are U.S-backed allied forces to ending this?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, yesterday during daylight hours it was relatively quiet. There were occasional airstrikes and artillery and mortar barrages and some exchanges machine gunfire, but really, things start to heat up as soon as the sun went down when there was a massive barrage of heavy machine gun fire going on for quite some time along with mortars and artillery into this encampment behind me.
We were woken from our sleep by four massive explosions, the biggest we've heard so far at around 10:00 p.m. local time this morning. Yes, again, yet again we were woken by heavy machine gunfire as the sun came up over the camp behind me. And just about 45 minutes ago, we watched as white phosphorus fell into the camp as well.
02:40:05] It seems to be setting on fire some of the tents and some of the tents are still on fire as well. Now, as far as how much progress has been made in the last 24 hours? How much longer this operation takes? No clue, whatsoever. We do know that there are still people inside, we have seen this morning after a night where there was heavy bombardment. We still see people moving around inside.
We still -- we still seen the flag fluttering in the light wind this morning. So, we've seen this operation -- this is the third attempt to retake Baghouz or rather the camp encampment outside of Baghouz as the other two attempts were stalled by the presence of civilians. It's not clear how many civilians are left inside, it's not clear how many fighters is -- are left inside. And the last, it's not clear how long this battle is going to take. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Absolutely understood. You and your team stay safe, Ben. Thank you so much for that live report. Well, the family of Shamima Begum is pleading with the British Government to restore her citizenship. They say it would be an act of mercy after the young woman's baby died and she renounced the terror group. But as Hala Gorani reports, that may not be enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When 19 year old Shamima Begum was interviewed by a British crew in February, she was at the AL-Hawl Refugee Camp in Syria along with other foreigners who joined ISIS. She was cradling her gravely ill newborn son Jerah. After running away from home in the U.K. to go to Syria when she was 15, she now wanted to come home.
SHAMIMA BEGUM, FORMER BRITISH CITIZEN: Because I don't support ISIS. It's not just that -- it's not just because I don't want to starve alone or I don't want my son to die. I don't support ISIS on what they believed in.
GORANI: This was now her third child. She says her first two born after she joined ISIS had died. Lack of medical care and poor hygiene, have claimed the lives of dozens of children in the camp, like Jerah. But Begum had previously justified ISIS attacks in Europe as retaliation for coalition airstrikes that had killed civilians. Already, the British Government announced it was planning to strip her of her British citizenship.
SAJID JAVID, HOME SECRETARY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: The house we have also seen the comments of Shamima Begum and that she's has made in the media and it will have to draw its own conclusions quite simply if you backed terror, there must be consequences.
GORANI: Only days ago, her young son Jerah died reportedly from pneumonia. And critics in the U.K. blame the baby's death on the government's earlier refusal to allow her to return. But others British officials say that this tragedy could have been avoided.
JEREMY HUNT, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Shamima knew when she made the decision to join Daesh, she was going into a country where there was no embassy, there was court service system and I'm afraid those, you know, those decisions all flowed as they do have consequences.
GORANI: The dilemma for foreign countries whether to allow nationals to return home after leaving to join a terror group, it is on a worldwide scale. Referring to the case of Shamima Begum's child, aid groups like Save the Children argue the rights of children born to foreign nationals should always be protected.
KIRSTY MCNEILL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF POLICY, ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNS, SAVE THE CHILDREN: We have found that there were 2-1/2 thousand children of foreign nationals but not all of them are British, but all of those that are British we think should be returned to the U.K. so the children can be given health, education and protection services. And their parents tried if that's appropriate.
GORANI: The aid group estimates that foreign nationals fighting with ISIS in Syria come from at least 30 countries. The group also estimates the population of the al-Hawl Camp where Shamima Begum is being held is overwhelmingly made up of women and children. Following the death of Jerah, the family of Shamima Begum is now asking the British Government to show mercy and allow her to come home. Hala Garoni, CNN London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, Venezuela's blackout is now in its fifth day and the country's hospitals are especially hard hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Patients in great condition are watched closely as ventilators are on battery power, when batteries fail, the nurses tell me they take turns and doing it manually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:44:49] CHURCH: What lawmakers are doing to try to end the power outage? That still to come. Plus, after weeks of protest Algeria's president relents agreeing not to run for a fifth term in office, but hear wise some in the country are still skeptical.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: After weeks of protests, Algeria's ailing and aging president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced he will not seek a fifth term in office. And he also announced the delay to election slated for April 18th.
Protests were replaced with a celebration on word, the president would not seek another term. Algeria's prime minister also resigned Monday, replaced by the interior minister who's been tasked to form a new government. But that too has some protesters skeptical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's a good thing, but only if they change the government completely. If they bring someone just like him, it's not worth it. They have to change the whole government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: First elected in 1999, the now 82-year-old president has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke six years ago.
Well, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is blaming the United States for the widespread power outage crippling his country. In a televised speech late Monday, he called it an electric coup carried out by criminal minds.
Maduro, says school and work will be suspended for another 48 hours, but the country will slowly recover. Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, says he is pulling all remaining staff from the embassy in Caracas. And he's blasting Maduro, Cuba, and Russia for Venezuela's economic crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: No nation has done more to sustain the death and daily misery of ordinary Venezuelans. Including Venezuela's military and their families than the Communists in Havana. Cuba is the true imperialist power in Venezuela.
Russia too has created this crisis. It too for its own reasons, this authority the Venezuelan people's legitimate Democratic hopes and their dreams. Moscow, like Havana, continues to provide political cover to Maduro regime, while pressuring countries to disregard the democratic legitimacy of the interim President Guaido.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, Venezuela's National Assembly has declared a state of emergency to help end the power outage. The decree will allow for international help over the next 30 days. But that help can't come quickly enough for hospitals throughout the country. CNN's Paula Newton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:50:08] PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The hospital is dark and unusually quiet, except for the hum of the generator. That is now the life-saving soundtrack to Venezuela's most profound blackout in decades.
So, we're walking through the hospital corridors. This is the University Hospital. This supposed to be one of the best, no light.
We're escorted in by a doctor who does not want to be identified but says she wants everyone to see this. Patients like Julio Cesar, the generator is below him, but it's servicing the emergency room. He has no power, no water, and meager food. There is nothing he tells us.
"It must be tough," I asked. He has no words left. Thin and clearly in pain, Julio has gangrene, he's been here a month already. His hopes were already fading and now this.
Doctors in emergency do the best they can to triage supplies already low. Patients in grave condition are watched closely as ventilators are on battery power. When batteries fail, the nurses tell me they take turns doing it manually.
Without power, this hospital is becoming a scene of desertion. The child of an employee wanders the halls, patients left unattended for hours, the pain of so many here is so acute, and yet even as they struggle here in Venezuela they've learned things could still get so much worse. Paula Newton, CNN, Caracas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: CNN is partnering with young people worldwide for a student- led day of action against modern-day slavery on March 14th. We are asking people all around the globe what makes you feel free. Here is what one man in Port Harcourt, Nigeria had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freedom to me, it's when I can vote, and my vote will counts, but I can finally have the power to choose people I want to preside over my activity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So, tell the world what makes you feel free. Sharing your story using the #My Freedom Day.
What's in a name? Just ask Donald Trump who called the Apple CEO, Tim Apple. Coming up, he is not the only one making high-level gaps. We'll take a look, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A major surprise for Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane is back. The 46-year-old Frenchman will take over coaching duties immediately as part of a new contracts that runs through 2022. Zidane left the club less than a year ago after three consecutive Champions League trophies. His coaching record for Real is legendary losing only 16 times in 149 matches. Zidane also spent five years as a player for Real Madrid from 2001 through to 2006.
Well, it seems the latest Trumpism, calling Tim Cook of Apple, Tim Apple, here's more evidence if you need it. And that the U.S. president has trouble owning up to even the smallest of mistakes. Here's our Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:55:06] JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Forget an apple a day. How about an apple explanation every few days? All because of how President Trump referred to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.
MOOS: Late-night laugh, Twitter joked about other industry giants. Bill Microsoft, Elon Tesla, Alexander Graham Telephone? But the president wasn't laughing when he tweeted Monday, "I quickly referred to Tim plus Apple as Tim Apple as an easy way to save time and words."
"Trump saved a valuable .27 seconds," nark the Washington Post. Analyzing how long it would have taken to put the Cook between Tim and Apple.
TRUMP: Tim Apple.
MOOS: Axios reported the president told a different story to a group of donors. Trump told them that he actually said "Tim Cook Apple" really fast, and the "Cook" part of the sentence was soft as in hard to hear. Leaving a reporter at the White House briefing to ask in vain. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did the president deny saying something that was caught on tape?
MOOS: Almost a year ago, the president boxed the name of Lockheed Martin, CEO.
TRUMP: I may ask Marillyn Lockheed.
MOOS: Actually, her name is Marillyn Hewson.
MARILLYN HEWSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LOCKHEED MARTIN: Mr. President, Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin.
MOOS: But calling a CEO by the wrong name is kid stuff. I once called a president by the wrong name to his face. How do you blown Nixon's name even if I was a rookie reporter back then?
President Reagan. Sorry, President Nixon.
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been called worse than that.
Tim Cook didn't seem to mind either. He ditched his old name on Twitter embracing Tim Apple. Even Ivanka Trump seemed amused. The president avoids acknowledging flubs, this ICE agent's name was written in the president's speech as C.J.
TRUMP: Celestino Martinez. He goes by D.J. and C.J. He said, call me either one. So, we'll call you C.J.
MOOS: For finessing that, we award the president an apple.
TRUMP: Tim Apple.
MOOS: Jeanne, CNN.
TRUMP: Marillyn, Lockheed.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: An apple a day. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with another hour of news. Coming up next. You're watching CNN. Do stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
