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No Options Left for Theresa May; Inside the Training Simulator for Boeing 737 Max 8; Devastation in Mozambique; Report: Rohingya Crisis a Bonanza for Human Traffickers; Pope Video Creates Controversy and Laughs; Chelsea Women's Team Advance to Semis; Roger Federer, Simona Halep Succeed in Miami Open Matches; Women's Golf Driving Interest; Scientist: Lionel Messi Best Player in the Game. Aired 12m- 1a ET
Aired March 28, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): No, no, no: eight alternative Brexit options and eight nos from Britain's Parliament. Theresa May's deal with the E.U. still looking not so bad.
Salvation after biblical flooding: CNN is there in Mozambique as groups go to help of desperate survivors of cyclone Idai.
Preying on the most vulnerable: disturbing new report about the sex trafficking, torture and mass killings of Rohingya refugees.
Hello and welcome for viewers joining us around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: Finally, British lawmakers had their moment. A chance to find common ground to vote on a raft of Brexit alternatives but it seems there is no agreement to be had on when, how or even if the U.K. should leave the E.U.
Lawmakers voted on eight different plans from the one presented by Theresa May but they could not agree on a single one.
With Parliament still deadlocked, the prime minister is playing possibly the last card she has, offering to resign to win support among Conservatives for her deal. Bianca Nobilo reports now from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Developments came thick and fast in Westminster Wednesday. The prime minister outlined when she would resign and Parliament decided that it couldn't decide on anything.
Today was the day that the House of Commons got to take control of the parliamentary agenda and try to find where the consensus was on Brexit. Lawmakers were presented with a range of options, from a no deal to a customs union or even a second referendum.
Out of the eight options, there was no majority for anything.
Does this make the prime minister's deal more appealing?
After all, it is the only viable deal currently on the table which the E.U. have agreed to. Theresa May met with her backbench 22 committee today and said that she would stand down in the event that she got her deal through the House of Commons.
It's been discussed for some months now whether or not the prime minister could essentially bargain her position to try and win over those hard-line Eurosceptics, who are yet to support her deal. Their hope is they might be able to replace her with a leader who thinks more similarly to them.
As it stands, the prime minister is still needing to get her deal through by the end of this week in order to secure the longer extension with the E.U. -- Bianca Nobilo, CNN, Westminster.
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VAUSE: CNN's European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas joins us from California.
Also with us in Los Angeles, global business executive Ryan Patel.
Take a look at the front page of "The Guardian" newspaper. "Parliament finally has its say: No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No."
So is it like a toddler in a timeout?
A lot of nos from British MPs on Wednesday but there was one option, which was still a no, but was the closest one which came to passing. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERCOW, SPEAKER, BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS: In respect of customs union, the ayes were 260 for, the nos were 272. So the nos have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So it failed by eight votes. It did better than the second referendum option.
Ryan, first explain how this option of Britain leaving the E.U. but staying within the customs union or a customs union, how that works and why is this one so favored, especially for the soft Brexiteers?
RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: At least they got that right. I think they understood the trade, that trade is important. The opposite of leaving without having any kind of deal in place was going to cause cost billions of dollars to imports and exports. That is something that the economy can't handle. Since the referendum, even though there has not been any structural
change on the U.K., the GDP is already down 2 percent. That is with nothing going forward. I think that is where they had to stop the bleeding when it came to this specific subject.
I thought, out of all the policy proposed that was going on there, I thought this would actually win it because this was addressing the economy. It would still be able to address some of the other aspects behind it.
From an economic perspective, the customs was the biggest task that they needed to have some kind of a direction to, so they can actually have future outlooks, have future entrepreneurs --
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PATEL: -- and businesses to continue to stay here. One piece of the bubble, piece of the puzzle figured out.
VAUSE: Dominic, to you, the hard-line Brexiteers, the option of Brexit, which keeps the U.K. within a customs union, it's like garlic to a vampire. The only thing worse than that would be no Brexit at all and that is what we saw on display on Wednesday.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes. Pretty much. When you consider that for many of these Brexiteers leaving the European Union is the single political issue that defines and shapes their thinking and their political career.
The inability is also then to be able to strike free trade agreements is so problematic for them, particularly, it therefore undermines their grand narrative of restoring a United Kingdom, a Great Britain that can engage in global trade.
Of course, they do not like this one little bit. As always, with the Brexiteers, the rhetoric is very flowery; the substance remains to be seen as to whether or not there is anything they can do to find an alternative to the solutions being proposed there.
VAUSE: You want flowery rhetoric, let me give you some. This is actually from one of the hard-line Brexiteers. It is from the leave.eu.com website, from the CEO.
She puts out there, "Yes, a bad deal could be very bad indeed, betraying all the promises made during the referendum -- open borders, massive payments to the E.U. coffers, you name it, but a no deal is at worst benign, at best a fabulous opportunity for a fairer, more prosperous Britain."
Ryan, if you had a chance to look at their website, you would see endless charts and graphics. It claims to back up their case. It's like taking an Ambien, it puts you to sleep straightaway. No one with any credibility is saying a no deal departure would be benign and certainly no one is saying it's a fabulous opportunity.
PATEL: No. No. No and no. If there was one thing that we saw from Parliament was they agreed that no Brexit -- why are they going so hard?
Because no deal is a bad thing. Both sides understand that that is the rhetoric, when it puts down to the economy and to actually what is going forward. To me, again, the fact that, at the end of today, it was to go back to that deal we initially agreed with. The E.U. is actually not that bad to compared to what's out there, tells you that the soft Brexit language of still staying in and being able to partner with the E.U. is still important.
Let me remind you of this as well. The E.U., the U.S., all are going to end up suffering should this actually happen. It be a full no deal with the E.U. and the U.K. This is not just between then. Globally, it will hurt as well. So there is no winner in this.
VAUSE: Maybe Theresa May (INAUDIBLE) because there is growing support at least for her Brexit deal, the one that was rejected first by an unprecedented margin and then just by an overwhelmingly crushing margin on the second time. It was voted down by MPs like Boris Johnson. Now he's ready to vote for it.
He told "The Telegraph," "I've done this on behalf of the 17.4 million people who voted for Brexit. I feel very, very sorry and though it fills me with pain, I'm going to have to support this thing. Sometimes you just have to make a judgment. We have got to get this thing over the line."
I'm sure he is talking about Theresa May's plan.
But Dominic, how much is the fear of a soft Brexit, like the one with the customs union, or no Brexit, driving MPs like Johnson to support May's plan, how much is being driven by her promise that she made earlier in the day by telling her party, "I'm prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party. I ask everyone in this room to back the deal so we can complete our historic duty."
THOMAS: I think there is a combination of fear, being petrified when they look at the spectrum that goes from no deal, which they would rather have, to Theresa May's deal to all the other particular options associated with an extension.
Second referendum, a people's vote and so on and so forth. I think that beyond that motivation, it is actually deep, deep consultation and strategizing that is taking place with these Brexiteers.
They see an opportunity here to take over from Theresa May and to shepherd this process through to its conclusion. In other words, in phase 2, when they go back to the European Union, should they achieve Brexit, and be able to go about doing this.
I think that, yes, they are afraid of this and I think they also sense that there is a genuine opportunity here for them to exploit. One should not underestimate what it is that is going on here in terms of these actions taken by the Brexiteers.
VAUSE: So for Theresa May, to get this through, the magic number is 320 votes from house. She will need the support of the DUP. That is the Northern Ireland party or a propping-up of the Conservative government, 10 MPs, 10 votes. It seems --
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VAUSE: -- they are not willing, at least at this point, to support May's Brexit deal. Listen to this.
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ARLENE FOSTER, NORTHERN IRELAND DUP LEADER: We feel, very fundamentally, that the backstop in that withdrawal agreement makes it impossible for us to sign up to the withdrawal agreement.
You know what?
I regret that because we want to get a deal that works for the whole of United Kingdom, a deal that works for Northern Ireland. But now we're in a situation where we cannot sign up for the withdrawal agreement and it is all because the prime minister decided to go for that backstop way back in December 2017.
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VAUSE: Ryan, here we go. Back to the backstop problem, which is the agreement between the U.K. and the E.U., which is an insurance policy to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
At this point, if you don't know, it's too late. Fundamentally, this is a problem without a solution and it gets us back to a no deal Brexit.
PATEL: I've talked about this in the past. It is going to come down to this. It is going to be how the hardliners of this backstop in the details, as you mentioned, of what is going to happen and what are the compromises that are going to be made.
In that deal, there is going to have to be some kind of compromise happening because there is some leverage that Northern Ireland has in this piece. Unless there is another deal struck that is around all of this with the E.U., which you and I both know is not going to happen, that is where I think this will hold up in multiple values.
Again, you are seeing this prop up right now because this is not between a deal and a no deal and to be the last point to keep it on the table is going to be very worrisome. It has to be addressed sooner than later.
VAUSE: Like everyone, else the E.U. leaders are watching all of this for the last few days, trying to make sense of it all. Like everyone else, they are failing.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker put it this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION (voice-over): If I were to compare Great Britain to a sphinx, the sphinx would be an open book by comparison. And let's see how the book speaks over the next week or so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dominic, that's the point. I guess we will see what happens over the next week but E.U. leaders are saying get ready for what could be a lengthy delay here to Brexit. There are millions of people who signed a position who want the whole thing canceled. Hundreds of thousands who protested in anti-Brexit demonstrations.
Is there anything that can delay it in terms of any length?
A general election in the near future?
THOMAS: Yes. Or someone to go into the European Union and asking them for a much longer period in order to avoid either a no deal or an inclusive process through Parliament.
Let's not forget here, that when we hear, for example, Donald Tusk speak, the president of the E.U. Council, this is somebody not just the former prime minister of Poland but someone who grew up and was deeply shaped by the transition in Poland from a Communist to a post Communist society.
To the absolute role and centrality that was given to the people in that dynamic. What they can see here is, first of all, they anticipated the difficulties that Theresa May was going to have with this withdrawal agreement and, therefore, the implications for her prime ministership.
What they see here is the whole process being taken over by the Brexiteers. If this agreement goes through and Theresa May steps down, there is going to be an internal election that is going to take place only within the Conservative Party at the same time that this party is denying the people a people's vote, denying any option of a second referendum or going to a general election.
They are essentially enacting the kind of coup within the Parliament to be able to take over and shepherd this process. This is deeply problematic for the European Union. Tusk addressed this today, when he spoke to the members of parliament in Strasbourg.
I think the story does not go away. This is a crucial factor in what is happening right now in Parliament.
VAUSE: Part of that is the uncertainty with which has been injected into Theresa May's plan, all courtesy of the speaker of the house.
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JOHN BERCOW, SPEAKER, BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS: I understand that the government may be thinking of bringing meaningful vote 3 before the House, either tomorrow or even on Friday if the house opts to sit that day.
Therefore in order that there should be no misunderstanding, I wish to make clear that I do expect the government to meet the test of change. They should not seek to circumvent my ruling by means of taking either a notwithstanding motion or a (INAUDIBLE) motion. The table office has been instructed that no such motions will be accepted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dominic, what game is the speaker, John Bercow, what is he playing?
Another roadblock with such little time to go?
THOMPSON: I think when this started over a week ago, when he obviously blocked or said that he would not allow this withdrawal agreement to come to another vote unless there was substantive change, this is all taking place in the context where the very institutions of Parliament are being played around with --
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THOMAS: -- on a daily basis.
I think when he started out, the primary goal was to restore some kind of credibility to the historical importance of this institution. The problem is that, in doing that, he has in some ways backed himself into a corner.
It is, of course, going to be extraordinarily difficult for him to come up with an (INAUDIBLE) to this justification, if indeed, this withdrawal agreement is what is going to unlock this jam, this impasse in the Houses of Parliament.
Personally, I would say that, given the fact that the extension has moved from the 29th of March to the 12th of April and that now Theresa May's prime ministership is attached to whether or not this deal actually goes through, it is going to be difficult for him.
We hope that he finds some kind of face-saving, honorable way to back down, to allow for Parliament to somehow proceed with this motion.
VAUSE: Not words associated with this process up until this point but I guess we will see. We are out of time but it's good to be with you both.
Ryan, next hour, we will be speaking specifically about the cost of a no deal Brexit, the increased cost of (INAUDIBLE) and polyester undies.
And also, Dominic, we will talk to the next hour for more on the politics. Thank you.
THOMAS: Thank you.
VAUSE: We head to Washington now. The latest on special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The House Judiciary chairman says attorney general Bill Barr has agreed to testify before his committee. But Barr will not commit to releasing the full report, which he said was very substantial.
A new poll shows Americans are divided over what to make of the report: 56 percent said the president and his campaign have not been exonerated of collusion; 43 percent disagree.
As for what should happen next, 57 percent say Congress should hold hearings; 43 percent say they should just end the investigation.
When it comes to the report's impact on the 2020 election, 7 percent say the findings make them more likely to back the president and 6 percent say less likely; 86 percent say it makes no difference.
A senior White House official tells CNN the Trump administration has no fresh plan on health care, despite backing a court ruling that completely strikes down ObamaCare. The policy shift has some Republicans and top Trump officials scratching their heads. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more from the White House.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the Russia investigation in the rear-view mirror, the White House is turning the fight to health care.
TRUMP: ObamaCare is a disaster.
COLLINS: But part of that battle is happening inside the West Wing. The Justice Department arguing in a new court filing that the Affordable Care Act should be thrown out entirely.
TRUMP: Phase one of the lawsuit terminates ObamaCare.
COLLINS: A move that sources tell CNN attorney general Bill Barr and Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar are fully against and got in a heated dispute with chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and policy officials pushing the ObamaCare elimination plan.
The president making clear who he sides with today.
TRUMP: We think it'll be upheld and we think it will do very well in the Supreme Court.
COLLINS: This part of Trump's plan to put health care front and center in the 2020 election, claiming for the second day in a row:
TRUMP: We are going to be, the Republicans, the party of great health care.
COLLINS: The issue dominated the midterm elections and led to a bruising defeat for his party.
Neither the White House, nor Republican lawmakers have offered a new plan to replace ObamaCare, which provides health care to 20 million Americans. Without offering details, Trump says he has a plan.
TRUMP: And if the Supreme Court rules that ObamaCare is out, we will have a plan that's far better than ObamaCare.
COLLINS: Eager to change the subject from the Mueller investigation, Democrats say they have been handed a political gift.
REP. TOM SUOZZI (D), NEW YORK: They just want to repeal and not really replace.
COLLINS: Whether it will unite them is another question.
Democrats are divided over what to do in a post-Mueller world, with some urging the party to move on, while others push ahead with plans for impeachment.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D), MICHIGAN: It's so important that I make sure that I check this president.
COLLINS: Democratic leadership swatting that down.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CALIF.), HOUSE SPEAKER: You can ask her how she's doing on hers. That's not an initiative of our House caucus.
COLLINS: It was not just Bill Barr that disagreed with Nick Mulvaney. CNN is told by sources that he also voiced his concerns about whether or not the administration had the legal ground to stand on here.
During that heated Oval Office meeting on Monday, Nick Mulvaney pushed back. In the end, President Trump sided with his chief of staff. I'm told that Pat Cipollone and Bill Barr still have reservations about whether or not that this will succeed. At this, point they are getting in line with the boss' orders -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, Boeing reveals its software fix, while U.S. lawmakers question their own regulators' role in certifying the 737 MAX.
Also in the wake of cyclone Idai, CNN is there --
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VAUSE: -- with emergency crews delivering aid to devastated communities.
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VAUSE: The relationship between the FAA and Boeing came under fire during a U.S. Senate hearing. The agency says they examined the automated software system of the Boeing 737 MAX but deferred parts of the safety certification to Boeing.
More than 30 countries have grounded the Boeing 737 MAX after two failed crashes. The U.S. was the last to do. The Transportation Secretary defended that call.
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ELAINE CHAO, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Based on the information that everyone had at that time, March 10th, March 11th, March 12th, there was no factual basis upon which to ground the planes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Boeing unveiled its software update and pilot training overhaul of many of its pilots and regulators. The FAA is yet to review or certify the upgrade. Pilots have said their training on the 737 MAX was short, an online course that made no mention of the software system or how to disable it. We have more now from Robyn Kriel.
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ROBYN KRIEL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are strapped in for a flight onboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight simulator at the Airlines Aviation Academy. This is the only simulator in Ethiopia for the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the aircraft that crashed two weeks ago, killing all on board.
The simulator, we're told was purchased in January of this year. Chief pilot Yohannes HaileMariam takes us through the brief pre-flight checklist before take-off.
YOHANNES HAILEMARIAM, ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES CHIEF PILOT: So we are in Addis.
KRIEL: Within minutes, our simulator flight has begun.
The Flight ET-302 took off in a similar way, from Bole International Airport, nestled in rolling green and gold nose. It was at this point, six minutes into the flight and still climbing to cruising altitude. That Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 encountered major problems.
It eventually crashed into a field, south of Addis Ababa. How and why this happened is still under investigation. And it was also at this point the 13-minute mark, that Lion Air flight nearly five months before began its tragic and deadly dissent as well. Our simulator journey, however, continue safely.
But on board October's Lion Air flight, the automated MCAS anti-stall system was trying to force the nose down.
HAILEMARIAM: This is what we call (inaudible) quick reference on the book.
KRIEL: Chief Pilot HaileMariam shows us the flight manual for a 737 MAX 8. This manual contains everything a pilot needs for a flight --
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KRIEL (voice-over): -- or at least it should. A source with knowledge of the aircraft says there's no information inside about the new MCAS system.
A pilot on board a flight encountering problems could've found all kinds of emergency procedures and systems descriptions but according to our source, nothing on the MCAS. Inside the simulator, the safest it is, our flight progresses smoothly.
Chief pilot HaileMariam flies the plane manually, effortlessly even. But if an actual flight experienced an MCAS failure, the pilot would be left wrestling the airplane. These levers particularly, the pilot pulling up, the system pulling down in a tug of war, one that according to our source, the aircraft doesn't know to stop fighting -- Robyn Kriel, CNN Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Villages have been left underwater, communities have been flattened. Two weeks ago cyclone Idai was just starting its sweep across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. In its wake, devastation and destruction, pivotal flooding, at least 750 people dead, more than 100,000 left homeless.
Now two weeks on, the suffering continues. CNN's Becky Anderson has more.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: It's been nearly two weeks since cyclone Idai wrought destruction in this area. And the search and rescue team set up here in a makeshift operation at Beira airport are still identifying people who've received little if no help. We just found one of those teams is doing a fuel drop, an emergency fuel drop to one such community. So we're just going to go along with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) an area 70 miles to the west of there. There a huge population was affected. The water level came up in just in a few hours but this massive downpour and river (INAUDIBLE) rise like 60 (ph) feet was above normal --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the trees are down, (INAUDIBLE) of aid they had crews drop down (INAUDIBLE) isolated communities already (INAUDIBLE) keep them alive.
What these guys have been doing have been taking some supplies across the river (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE) washed away the other night. They lost (INAUDIBLE).
ANDERSON (voice-over): On the ground that vital fuel we're bringing in, helping to fuel boats to get to those in critical need. ANDERSON: The water is upwards of 8 meters high. So it would've been
right up toward the top of these trees.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Eight meters?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They would have likely (INAUDIBLE).
ANDERSON: That's amazing. So just in the past three days the waters have receded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's receded a lot.
ANDERSON: Yes.
ANDERSON (voice-over): These guys are doing roughly 10-12 trips a day now, taking aid across the other 1,200 families on the other side there who have had nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
ANDERSON (voice-over): You see the vegetation there and the rocks exposed a little further out. These guys are saying that the water levels are clear now, that this is actually becoming a much more dangerous trip in a boat like this.
ANDERSON: Hey, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what he was saying is straight after the flood, no food, no shelter, nothing. And since the aid has arrived, they have tents, they have some food and we've given them a water purification system.
ANDERSON (voice-over): More than 40 people lost their lives in this one small community. The fear is that many hundreds if not thousands in this region could also lose their lives, if more isn't done and fast to prevent hunger and chronic disease -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Beira, Mozambique.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Before they were targets of genocide by Myanmar's military, a human rights report has Rohingya refugees were prey for human traffickers and Malaysia's government was complicit in trying to cover up of a crime on a massive scale.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Thank you for staying with us. I'm John Vause. We have an update now on the top stories this hour.
[00:31:57] British lawmakers have rejected all eight alternatives they laid out to Theresa May's Brexit deal. The prime minister has now offered to resign if fellow conservatives won't back the deal she negotiated with the E.U. But the speaker of the House said yet again there will be no third vote on Mrs. May's deals without substantial changes.
A senior White House official says the Trump administration has no fresh plan on health care. And today, after backing a court ruling that completely strikes down Obamacare. Other sources described heated debate within the White House over exactly what its health care policy should be.
U.S. lawmakers grilled the Federal Aviation Administration about its oversight on the Boeing's 737 Max 8 jet in the aftermath of two fatal crashes. The acting chief of the agency told senators the FAA scrutinized a computer system but left large parts of the safety certification to Boeing.
Despite a global outcry, it seems unlikely Rohingya refugees who have been out of their homes in Myanmar will be returning anytime soon. About a million Rohingya are living in smaller camps in Bangladesh with little food or assistance.
But those living conditions could soon become even worse. Bangladesh is considering relocating about 100,000 refugees to a remote, exposed island in the Bay of Bengal. Authorities in Bangladesh say, at this point, there is no timetable.
Meantime, the Rohingya crisis, it seems, has been a bonanza for human traffickers. A new Human Rights Report estimates traffickers' profit as much as $100 million a year, taking Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Thailand and Malaysia. There, they were murdered, slaved, tortured, raped or imprisoned.
The reports call on the international community to halt the trafficking and prosecute those responsible.
Cofounder and CEO of Fortify Rights, Matthew Smith, joins us now over the phone. He was one of the chief human rights groups behind this report.
So Matthew, OK, let's go through this, because the investigation focuses on the abuse and the international crimes committed against the Rohingya outside of Myanmar, in particular in Malaysia and Thailand. I want to read part of your report.
"From 2012 to 2015, more than 170,000 people boarded ships from Myanmar and Bangladesh, bound for Malaysia and Thailand. The majority of people trafficked during this period were Rohingya Muslims. A criminal syndicate deceived Rohingya refugees to board ships, and then abused them, depriving them of adequate food, water, and space, committing torture and, in some cases, rape. At sea, traffickers murdered captives, and many died at sea by suicide."
OK. So just at this point, were the authorities in Malaysia or Thailand aware that this was actually happening? Did they turn a blind eye? Did they do anything about it? Were they just sort of willfully incompetent? MATTHEW SMITH, COFOUNDER & CEO, FORTIFY RIGHTS: They were aware,
John. We have quite a lot of evidence, actually, not only that various authorities, particularly in Thailand, were very aware and, in some cases, directly involved. We've got evidence that Thai authorities were essentially taking these victims of human trafficking, these survivors of human trafficking, and rather than provide them protection, they were then, in turn, selling them back to this criminal syndicate, exchanging enormous amounts of money in the process. And then the syndicate was, in turn, taking the survivors into these remote camps on the Thailand/Malaysia border.
[00:35:06] VAUSE: We can take that apart. Because again, from your investigation, once onshore, victims were held in conditions of enslavement in remote camps along the Malaysia/Thailand border, denied access to adequate food, water and space, resulting in death, illness and injury. They were tortured with pipes, bats, clubs, belts, wires, tasers, nails, threats and intimidation, as well as other means."
Is there any idea, out of that 170,000 who were trafficked, mostly the Rohingya Muslim, how many survived?
SMITH: It's very difficult to say. Part of the reason it's difficult to say is because, right now, the government in Malaysia has no idea, no accurate idea of how many Rohingya are in Malaysia right now. And that's because they're not registering or identifying or giving documents to survivors of trafficking and refugees here. So that's an issue.
But we -- you know, the Thai authorities had uncovered 32 bodies. They exhumed 32 bodies from a mass grave. The Malaysian authorities exhumed 139. And our evidence indicates the loss of life was massive. And so I think, at this, point the investigations that have taken place and really only scratched the surface, unfortunately.
VAUSE: And also, not only were officials sort of not doing anything to stop this, but they actively hindered the investigation. Again, your investigation of how Malaysian authorities destroyed the human trafficking campsite the day after it was discovered, potentially diminishing evidence that could aided a police investigation. Also found that the authorities ordered bodies to be exhumed. That delayed official investigation about four months.
How have authorities in Malaysia, in particularly, and also, I guess, Thailand, how have they responded to these accusations?
SMITH: I'm not sure yet. We just released the report yesterday.
However, there were a number of authorities who participated in the investigation. We did this report with the National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. They collected recorded testimony from members of the police and other state security and government agencies here in Malaysia.
And this is -- this is essentially how we were able to determine some of the details about what did and did not happen in the official investigation. It appears from our perspective that there would have been people in
positions of power who did not want to see a thorough, in-depth investigation into this. And it's a very serious question as to why that was the case.
VAUSE: I guess the question, though, is how reliable, how confident are you in the evidence that you've gathered? And sort of what's the quality? What type of evidence do you have?
SMITH: Well, we've got, certainly, testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses. We interviewed more than 270 Rohingya survivors, eyewitnesses. We also interviewed human traffickers, people who were involved in the trade.
And on the Malaysia side of the border, Sue Hockam (ph), the Human Rights Commission, was able to collect testimony from a number of different government agencies. And so they were officials going on record, talking about what they knew about what was going on.
And on top of that, and it's good news, actually, that the government of Malaysia has established a royal commission of inquiry. This is the highest level of inquiry in Malaysia. So they've established a royal commission of inquiry to look into this to try to understand why there was no justice, why there was no accountability.
VAUSE: If you look at the fate of the Rohingya the last couple of years, you know, they were targets of genocide a few years ago. Now we learn about this human trafficking. You know, it seems that they're definitely the most victimized group of people in the world.
SMITH: Certainly, the atrocities that the Rohingya population are facing are unthinkably awful. The crime of genocide, crimes against humanity. And you know, it is happening right in front of the international community.
The root causes of this trafficking crisis, actually, as you rightly pointed to, genocide in Myanmar. And the Myanmar authorities are committing these violations with impunity. And unfortunately, until those root cause violations stop, we're likely to see more Rohingya fleeing their homes, fleeing from Myanmar.
VAUSE: And this happens while the international community turns their back, and no one does anything. And Myanmar and Thailand, and these other countries just simply get away with it. And that's the problem.
So thank you for the report. It's in depth; it's lengthy. And it's well worth a read for anybody who cares. Thank you, Matthew.
SMITH: Thank you so much, John. Thank you.
VAUSE: OK. A short break. When we come back, is it real or is this just a Vatican plot? The latest on the disappearing papal ring kiss, whatever that is, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Kissing the pope's ring has long been a sign of respect for God's emissary on earth. It's no surprise, then, a video of Pope Francis repeatedly pulling his hand away as people tried to kiss said ring has gone viral. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to kissing the pope's ring, he doesn't seem to like the ring of it. Watch Pope Francis yank his hand away time after time as Catholics lined up at a shrine in Italy to pay their respects. One guy looked like he ended up kissing his own hand. It was as if his devoted fans had cooties.
TREVOR NOAH, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": It looks like a weird video game, where we have to try and kiss the pope.
(on camera): But it's not as if the pope tells everyone to kiss off when they go for his ring.
(voice-over): He usually goes along with it, most memorably, when this circus performer did it last year.
Ring kissing does tend to slow down the line. This man puckered up, then got hustled away. On the day in question, Pope Francis allowed folks to divebomb him for ten minutes before he started playing hard to get.
Supporters say it's a pope being humble, preferring to wash people's feet rather than have them kiss his ring.
Most hand kisses don't involve a ring, be it the queen, or Melania Trump. Or Kellyanne Conway. One guy --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Godfather.
MOOS: -- who doesn't refuse it is Don Corleone. And you'd better not refuse him.
Someone tweeted that Pope Francis looks like he's batting off flies. Still, he did stop for hugs, a papal treat.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC'S "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": It's also good if you had an ice cream cone.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. WORLD SPORT is next. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:45:33] KATE RILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, welcome along to WORLD SPORT. I'm Kate Riley at CNN Center. We're going to start with women's football this hour. And Chelsea
football club are one of the few English teams to win the Champions League. This year they could make it a double, of sorts that is.
The Chelsea women are into the semis this season, thanks to a quarterfinal win against Paris Saint-Germain earlier. This was the second leg, and PSG absolutely dominated it. They were 2-0 up by the 56th minute. The second of which was an egregious own goal by the Chelsea keeper, Ann-Katrin Berger. With a 2-all aggregate score, it all was heading to extra time until, virtually out of nowhere, in the dying seconds, Maren Mjelde latched onto Karen Carney's perfect cross. Chelsea are in the semis, where they will play Ada Hegerberg's Lyons for a place in the final.
Certainly, an exciting year for women's football. That's for sure.
Well, to tennis now, and Roger Federer is into the quarterfinals of the Miami Open after a two-set win over Daniel Medvedev. The three- time Miami champion needed an hour and a minute to beat his Russian opponent. The 37-year-old Federer hit 22 winners in one night of the final 11 games. The Fed will play South Africa's Kevin Anderson in the last eight.
Meanwhile, over there on the women's side, Simona Halep fought her way back to punch her ticket into the semifinals. China's Qiang Wang gave the former world No. 1 quite the run for her money. She had her down, 5-1, in the second set, but Halep came back to win, 6-4-7-5. Halep only needs to reach Saturday's final to knock Japan's Naomi Osaka off the top of the women's rankings.
All right We've mentioned women's football already, and over in the women's game in golf, big things are happening. Recently, the LGPA has launched a new video inspiring women that's called "This is for every girl." Remember, this is the oldest continuing women's professional sports organization here in the United States, now in its 70th season. And earlier, CNN's Don Riddell spoke with the tour commissioner and asked him why the LPGA has been such a success story for female athletes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE WHAN, LPGA COMMISSIONER: We used to end every player meeting with the term "Act like a founder." And "Act like a founder" means to LPGA members, do something to leave the game better for the next generation.
We totally understand that we're standing on the shoulders of the women that came before us, but we've got to make sure that the shoulders that the next generation stand on is even bigger and better than before.
We've always felt that responsibility. We've always recognized it. I guess we've just never turned the mirror directly on us and shared it with the rest of the world. That's what "Drive On" is all about.
DON RIDDELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Golf and tennis were the two sports where it was always acceptable for women to play and to be professional. Why do you think that was? What was the secret sauce that your sports had that the others didn't?
WHAN: Well, I think there's two things. I mean, when you play professional golf, when you're a female for playing professional golf at this level, I don't care who you are, you are wowed by the talent.
The second thing that becomes pretty clear at the LPGA, is just how globally. You know, we're in Southern California today, and we'll get 35,000 fans this weekend to watch us play. But we'll be televised in 175 countries. We'll have athletes out here from 40 or 50 different home countries.
I've watched a lot of sports in a lot of different regions really try to become global. They go play one event in a different country, or they go try to play a preseason event in a different country, to see if people can get more interested.
We -- we hit the road. We travel all around the world every year all year. And because we think it's important, the message that we're sending, not only to our sponsors, not only our fans, but to young women who are at the rope line, looking up as these athletes walk by. We know we're making a difference.
There's countries we visit now that women didn't play golf ten years ago. And now, we've got women from those countries actually on the LPGA. So we know it matters.
RIDDELL: Tennis celebrates Billy Jean King, not just for her achievements, and the trophies she won, but for her attitude and her desire and drive to change the world and make it a better place. I wonder, who is the LPGA equivalent, do you think, of Billy Jean King?
WHAN: You know, it's funny. What's unique about the LPGA is it was started by 13 women. It wasn't a spinoff of a man's organization. We're not owned by some other corporate. We don't get a check from some other men's league. We've been on our own for 70 years.
Nancy Lopez is a name that a lot of people remember, certainly, a lot of Americans remember. Se Ri Pak woke up not only Korea but Asia to this great game.
[00:50:03] And now we've got players -- literally, we've got players -- in the Rolex rankings of the world rankings, the top 15 rankings have people from ten different countries. So for a lot of countries, their best female athlete is a golfer. And that athlete plays golf on the LPGA, which is why you can now watch us on TV in 175 countries.
So it's funny. When somebody says to me, who's the face of the LPGA, I always say, "Well, who's the face the NFL?" Because no matter what team you follow, that's the person you think is the face. Same with Premier League.
So in our case, we really believe that the face of the LPGA depends on where you're growing up. It might be Chinese. It might be Korean. It might be Australian. It might be from California, and it might be from Mexico or Canada. And I think that's what's making this game so great. And that's why women's golf, meaning girls' golf, girls under the age of 18, is the fastest growing segment in this sport. That's why we feel about what's going on here than ever before.
RIDDELL: You know, it's not easy being a professional female athlete. And certainly not, when it's time to become a mom. How are you able to make sure that the LPGA tour keeps hold of these players and really encourages them to continue with their careers whilst also being a parent at the same time?
WHAN: So essentially, if you're a mom on tour, you come to the -- you come in the morning. You drop your kids off at LPGA daycare. You go play your round. You practice that afternoon, pick your kids up from daycare and go home. And that daycare will pack up this week in Southern California, and drive to Palm Springs, where we'll be next streak for ANA Inspiration.
We want to make sure that, if you're a superstar or female professional athlete, you don't have to make a choice between mom and professional athlete. The answer ought to be, yes, I want to be a mom and a professional athlete.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: Great message there, and many thanks to the commissioner for his time.
Coming up, the science behind the game and maths making the case for Messi to be crowned the world's best player.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RILEY: Welcome back. Football fans are living in a golden generation. We are watching the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Even when they're not directly playing against each other, it feels like they are competing against each other, trying to outdo each other from one game to the next.
Take a look at these stats. In many ways, they are well-matched. Messi has scored 656 goals. Ronaldo has more, 682, but he's played more games. They've both scored just over 50 hat tricks. Messi has won 32 trophies with Barce, more than the 24 Ronaldo has won with his clubs. But Ronaldo has won the Champions League more, 5 to Messi's 5.
So who is better? We've spoken to the sport's scientist, Simon Brundish, who says it's not even close. It's Messi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON BRUNDISH, SCIENTIST: While he's alive, there is only Lionel Messi. There is no discussion. If you're saying anybody else is the best player in the world, Messi has had a broken leg for a year or he's dead, or you're lying. It can't be true. Last year -- currently, Messi has a goal or assist every 48 minutes.
That's pretty -- bear in mind that every game is 95 minutes long. That's almost two every single game.
[00:55:10] Last season, it was 58 minutes. Still kind of unbelievable. I imagine we're kind of a similar age. If we're talking, like, Premier League greats, Alan Shearer, we'll still talk about a goal every two games, being that's what a great striker gets.
He gets two every game! This is an insanity that there's even a debate to be had.
If you look at the underlying statistics, look look at XG, so expected goals. You can break down that down into, further into a thing called XG build, which is basically, you reverse engineer from the final shot, and you award -- award that number to all of the players involved in the chain leading -- of passers leading up to that.
So it could be going to the goalie, if the goalie started the move and it got passed around. So you wouldn't expect that Luka Modric, the greatest of all playmakers, that's where he would excel. Yes.
So if you look at the big contenders -- Messi, Salah, last season, Ronaldo, because why wouldn't he be, Neymar, Hazard -- So he got 0.7 XG per 90, XG build per 90. And we have, within that group, there's a 0.81 and even Mo Salah had the worst, 0.2, because he's not involved in the goal, because he's actually just scoring it. So he can't be involved in both of those things.
So one, Messi had the best actual finishing part. So that, in XG build, they remove the value of the final pass or the goal, so you can't be rewarded if you made the assist in XG build. And he still had it better than moderate as well as having a goal every 48 minutes and playing 1,000 minutes more than Modric did last season.
And as I say, being on the pitch is more valuable. So if you're creating a goal or an assist every 48 minutes and you play for thousand more minutes, where is the argument?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: All right. Thanks to Simon for his time there. That does it for us. Many thanks for watching. Stay with CNN. The news is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Thank you for joining us. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
