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Hong Kong Protesters Protest Over an Extradition Bill; Only Five Democrats Likely to Face in the Final Debate; Women Defectors Escape Hell; Crane Left a Hole in an Apartment; Refugees Gamble Their Fate to Europe; ISIS Beatles Confessed; Rafael Nadal Breaks the Record. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 10, 2019 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Back in the streets of, Hong Kong protests showed their outrage as the city tried to pass a controversial extradition law. And Chinese officials blame the U.S. for the growing demonstrations.
Plus, as women try to escape North Korea, many are trapped by human traffickers. We look at the dramatic attempts to bring them to safety.
Also ahead this hour, it's a World Cup with French flare. Fans excitedly watch the top teams face off for football supremacy.
We are live at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, and we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell. The CNN Newsroom starts now.
It's 3 am on the U.S. East Coast, and good to have you with us.
A massive protest in Hong Kong, and the United States is getting the blame for it a day after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, as you see there.
Chinese tech media say the U.S. orchestrated it all, because of the trade dispute. But trade is not the reason why so many people came together.
Demonstrators came out in force protesting a bill that they fear gives the Chinese government too much power in Hong Kong. The legislation would allow criminal suspects and that could be defined broadly, criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China from Hong Kong.
The protests were mostly peaceful but some flashes did break out during the time. Authorities say at least three police officers who were hurt and several arrests were made there. The city's chief executive though, is promising to push ahead with that bill, but a pro-democracy lawmaker, in fact, several of them say it is time to get rid of it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLAUDIA MO, HONG KONG PRO-DEMOCRACY LAWMAKER (through translator): We
want this bill to be scrapped altogether, because there is no point to say that we can protect you under this label called rule of law, when it comes to China extradition. This doesn't make sense. This just won't work because there is no fair trial. There is no humane punishment guarantees on the mainland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Live in Hong Kong, our Andrew Stevens is on the story. And Andrew, we are hearing that the protestors are planning for more demonstrations in the coming days, and the coming weeks as they follow this situation. Tell us more.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We're hearing this as well. There's been a press conference since the last hour or so, George, which the organizers of yesterday's protest which attracted they say about one million people, massive, massive protest here in Hong Kong.
The organizers are now calling for another protest on Wednesday. Wednesday is the day that the Hong Kong parliament will convene to look at the extradition bill for a second time, a second of three readings, after three readings it is voted on and, likely come into law because Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government does have the numbers in parliament.
So, we are hearing there's going to be demonstrations, or there's going to be a call for more demonstrations on Friday. Also hearing from the trade unions in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union, the overarching body is having an emergency meeting tomorrow to talk about whether there should be a general strike on Wednesday.
So there is still a lot of civic action, there is a lot of protest actions still revolving around this very controversial issue.
HOWELL: And Andrew, of course, the thousands of people who came together, we have seen a riot police use pepper spray, use batons to push the demonstrators back from parliament, how much of this will Hong Kong leadership put up with overall, because again, we're hearing more protests are being called for.
Conversely, is there a sense among protestors that they feel these actions will make an impact?
STEVENS: Well, as far as the impact is concerned, there was negligible impact from yesterday's protest. If you listen to the chief executive Carrie Lam, she gave a press conference today as well. At which she said, we have introduced safeguards to protect the people of Hong Kong and we will push forward with this extradition bill with these new safeguards.
Just listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: I and my team have not ignored
any views expressed on this very important piece of legislation. We have been listening and listening very attentively and very humbly to views expressed by various actors, so we have already made two sets of amendments to our proposal, one before the introduction of the bill and one after the introduction of the bill.
[03:05:02] The reality is, after these additional measures have been introduced, and many of them concerned human rights safeguards over and above what is now contained in the fugitive offender's ordinance, we were told, we receive feedback that these additional measures are effective in addressing the concerns of the stakeholders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: Now the additional measures she is talking about I think is like a case by case basis. So when or if China asked for an extradition, it has to be done on a case by case basis. The chief executive will look at it. The Hong Kong judges will look at it before agreeing to it.
The other safeguard is that the crime has to be a serious crime, mirroring some seven years, at least seven years in prison.
Now the other safeguards that she mentioned, but she spoke about those nine days ago, George. A million people turned out 24 hours ago and she has not changed a line on her position despite this massive protest.
HOWELL: Andrew, they have the numbers for this. They can push this through. Look, the concept of one country two systems is the prevailing framework that defines the relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong, but there is an expiration date to that arrangement.
Is this just another example, Andrew, of China poised to gain more control in a transition that is an inevitable reality for Hong Kong?
STEVENS: Well, that -- yes, that's a great point, the transition guaranteed under the basic law or under the Constitution, when Hong Kong went back to China in 1987, it was a 50-year transition.
So by, 2047 Hong Kong and China would then fully emerge. But what we've seen in recent years is Beijing putting on the pressure to speed up that transformation, if you like.
We saw the umbrella movement when Beijing clearly closed down any talk of any sort of independence, any talk of further Democratic reforms to allow Hong Kong to vote for their own candidates, not a list of candidates that have been approved by Beijing.
We've seen it since with lawmakers being banned from taking their position in parliament because they are deemed to be too disruptive and too critical towards China.
So it is a slow, slow drumbeat of China taking on Hong Kong, moving into Hong Kong and setting different parameters which means that Hong Kong is becoming more and more concerned, and more worried, this is why we're seeing so many people coming into the streets.
HOWELL: The arc of that transition underway. Andrew Stevens live for us in Hong Kong. Andrew, thank you.
And for more on the protests in Hong Kong, you can get the very latest and the background, more background on what is a complex story, at cnn.com.
Now, to the U.S. State of Iowa, the race for 2020. We're getting close to it. Nineteen Democratic candidates for president were in that key election state, pitching themselves to voters and to donors at the party's annual hall of fame dinner.
Our Leyla Santiago was there.
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of the voters I talked to said that this didn't necessarily make it any easier for them to narrow down that short list, in fact, it makes it more difficult.
So let's talk about what happened here. You had 19 of the 23 candidates all in one room making a five-minute pitch to voters here in Iowa. Remember, Iowa, the very first caucus state. That's why there's a lot of focus here.
Among the candidates, you heard them talk about issues that are not so surprising. Abortion, voting rights, health care. And every single one of them made sure to sort of flex some muscle in talking about beating President Trump in 2020.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running for president because we can't take four more years of Donald Trump. I'm running for president to beat Donald Trump, and I'm running for president because beating Donald Trump is not enough.
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need a president who live like you live. We need a president who has the grit that you have, and we have a president right now that doesn't understand the dreams that you have. I will be that president.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While we are all united, in the need to defeat Trump there are disagreements amongst us as to the best way to do that. In my view, we will not defeat Donald Trump unless we bring excitement and energy into this campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANTIAGO: Now what you did not see here for the hall of fame dinner, you did not see the front runner, Vice President Joe Biden. His campaign says that he had a long-standing family commitment that had been scheduled a while back. That's why he is not in Iowa. [03:09:58] But some voters tell me they took offense to that, that
perhaps they didn't see themselves as a priority for the front runner Vice President Joe Biden. That said, he will be here on Tuesday on the very same day that President Trump will also be in Iowa.
And take note of the timing. We are just a few weeks away from the very first debate for these candidates. That will be in Miami at the end of the month.
Leyla Santiago, CNN, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
HOWELL: Leyla, thank you. Let's get context and perspective now with Natasha Lindstaedt. Natasha, a professor of government at the University of Essex, live via Skype this hour from Colchester, England. Good to have you with us, Natasha.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: So, look, for Democrats looking to replace Mr. Trump as president, the latest poll from CNN shows in Iowa shows the former Vice President Joe Biden the favorite ahead of others in that state's caucus set for February. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris all rounding out the top five, as you see here.
We're seeing, though, Joe Biden with the smaller advantage than seen in recent national polls. Natasha, what do you make of it?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, he had really high numbers, around 30 percent, and a lot of that was just due to name recognition. It was going to be really difficult for him to hold on to that because we already know a lot about him.
He's very experienced, but what was likely to happen was there were going to be some other candidates that as Democratic voters got to know them, in particular we're thinking of Buttigieg, and to some extent Warren, who has been doing a really good job of traveling around the country and really selling what her policies are, that these candidates would get a bump.
And we've seen they have had a bump. Particularly Buttigieg, which is I think his bump is up 13 percent. Warren is up 6 percent.
And so, Biden slipped a little bit, going down to 24 percent, and so he's going to have to come in really strong in Iowa and differentiate himself from all of these different candidates and why they really need him.
He's going to have to explain, again, and again that he probably at the very moment, I know we're still 17 months away, has the best chance of beating Trump in a head-to-head, with the latest poll revealing a 2020 matchup would be 53 percent for Biden and 41 percent for Trump.
HOWELL: But what a crowded field we have. If we could pull that graphic up again if we have it to show, all of these Democrats who are running, you know, to get the nomination here for this general election. So many, some of them polling in the single digits, Natasha. Given this crowded field, do they have a chance of breaking out at this point?
LINDSTAEDT: I really think only five candidates have a chance. Biden, of course, Sanders, Buttigieg, Warren and Kamala Harris. She's the only one, Kamala Harris has 5 percent. Everybody else is just too far. I don't think Beto O'Rourke or Cory Booker really have much of a chance at this point, and they will probably end up eventually dropping out.
You have to really think about who has momentum and Buttigieg and Warren in particular have a lot of momentum. And as the field narrows a little bit more, they might be able to close in on Biden's lead.
I don't really see Sanders being able to close in much because he's just dropping so much. He's gone down 9 percentage points. So I think it's really going to be -- end up being a three-way race between Biden, Warren and Buttigieg.
And at this point, the U.S. president focusing in on that key issue of immigration. That seems to be helping him with his base. Again, we're getting close to 2020. Not there but getting close.
Democrats in the meantime, I want to transition to this issue of impeachment because candidates running for president are talking about it.
Certainly they're talking about it in the House, but they seem divided in the House, Natasha, on whether to pursue impeachment inquiries against the president or whether to wait for Mr. Trump to become a private citizen should he lose come 2020 and rely on the various investigations to play out around him.
How do Democrats bridge the divide here? As the goal is to show that they're united against the president.
LINDSTAEDT: Right. And this is going to be difficult because we have progressive Democrats in the House that really want to impeach and have really wanted to impeach since they took over.
Then you have the more I guess moderate Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi who feel that if they initiate impeachment where they have no chance of getting a conviction in the Senate might backfire against them in 2020.
We look at the overall picture; you have 91 percent of Republicans don't want impeachment proceedings to begin. Fifty-one percent of independents don't want impeachment to begin and 23 percent of Democrats don't want this.
However, once impeachment proceedings begin, if we look at the Nixon case, which contrasts actually with Clinton's case, eventually as the information came out, Republicans started to turn on Richard Nixon and his approval rating went down to the low 50s. [03:15:01] So it could be that they initiate impeachment. Might not be
that popular in the beginning, but as the information is revealed and they make the case against the president, they'll be able to get a consensus amongst the U.S. public that this was the way to go.
The other legal argument is that if they initiate impeachment they're going to have a wider power to subpoena documents and to get depositions. So it's going to be a really tough decision for them to make, but I think they're still trying to be cautious, lay out the case and eventually some information might be revealed that will lead Nancy Pelosi to say, OK, I think we need to start initiating impeachment proceedings.
HOWELL: Natasha Lindstaedt with perspective for us. Natasha, thank you.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: Some news to share with you now about former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz. He's now recovering after being shot several hours ago in his home country, the Dominican Republic.
Police say Ortiz was with friends at a dance club in the capital city of Santo Domingo when the gunman walked up and shot him. The bullet going through his stomach.
Ortiz has undergone surgery. Afterwards, his father spoke at the hospital. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEO ORTIZ, DAVID ORTIZ'S FATHER (through translator): The operation is over and he is stable. We're just waiting for the doctors to take him out of the surgery room. He's resting right now. No, there are no other damages we know of. He is stable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Police say several people have been detained. A reporter in Santo Domingo tells CNN the shooter was attacked by the crowd and is hospitalized.
Just a short time ago, fellow Dominican ball player Pedro Martinez tweeted this image of himself and Ortiz. Martinez is on the right hugging his much bigger friend. He wrote, "I'm at peace knowing you are out of danger."
This just in to CNN. An Indian court has found six men guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl. The brutal crime happened last year in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
A police investigation revealed the that the men, all Hindu, attacked the girl in an attempt to scare the Nomadic Muslim tribe she belonged to.
Protests erupted in India after the men were arrested. One of them was accused and acquitted. An eight -- an eighth suspect is a juvenile and is being tried in a separate court.
Still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, dramatic images of North Korean women escaping China's sex trade. Details on their plight and their flight to safety in a CNN Freedom Project special report.
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: As part of CNN's Freedom Project, we examine the dangers of North Korean women, what they face when they're defecting. Thousands have made the dangerous journey over the border into China searching for a better life, but soon many of the women find themselves subjected to human trafficking.
This story is about two of those women kept in a building in northeastern China for years, who managed to make a dramatic escape.
Our Paula Hancocks has the story.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic escape from a fourth floor window. Two North Korean defectors flee a tiny flat they've been held captive in for years.
"When I was climbing down the rope" says a woman we will call Lee Yumi (Ph), "I knew I could die if I fell. I also knew it would be worse if I got caught because then I would be sent back to North Korea and my whole family would be punished for what I did."
We are hiding her identity for her own safety. Lee says a broker who helped her to escape from North Korea then sold her to a cyber-sex operator who she says kept her in this building in northeastern China for five years.
She and other trafficked defectors were forced to work long hours, sometimes only sleeping a few hours a day. She says she was beaten by her captor. She allowed her to leave the apartment with him once every six months.
"When I was working for the chat room, she says, I had to do everything the customers asked me to. I saw so many perverts."
It's a story shared by thousands of North Korean girls and women who escape North Korea to what they believe will be a better life.
London-based nonprofit organization Korea Future Initiate published a report last month estimating as many as 60 percent of North Korean female refugees in China are trafficked into the sex trade.
A spokesperson for the Chinese government said in a statement to CNN, "I want to stress that the Chinese government pays high attention to foreign citizens' legitimate rights according to law, and also combats activities of human trafficking women and children."
Lee's chance of escape came when a customer recognized she was North Korean and being held captive and put her in touch with Chun Ki-Won, a South Korean pastor. Lee was able to contact Chun online to plan her escape. Chun says his Christian aid organization, Durihana, has helped around 1,200 defectors reach Seoul since 1999.
"In these cases," he says, the best option is to talk to the person holding the woman and ask them to release her or for her to pick the lock and run. Using the rope from the fourth floor is the last option we take."
The route through China and on to a third country like Laos or Myanmar is incredibly risky. If caught, China sends defectors who they see as illegal economic immigrants back to North Korea. Activists say they then face punishment, imprisonment or in some cases even death.
[03:24:55] A woman we will call Kwang Ha-Yun (Ph) was held prisoner for eight years in the same room as Lee. They escaped together. They travelled for five days and nights through China, managing to evade detection.
They arrive in a third country we're not naming for security reasons and enter the South Korean embassy.
"They were very nervous in the embassy," the pastor tells me. "In North Korea they'd learned South Koreans are bad. They were filled with such mixed emotions."
This is a journey thousands have taken before them, seeking asylum in South Korea, a journey an unknown number can only dream of. Still trapped in China's multimillion dollar sex industry.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
HOWELL: One person who knows this plight very well is journalist Julie Zaugg. She's written about China's sex trade and the enslavement of North Korean women.
And earlier, she explained to us what happens to most women when they escape into China and what could happen to them if they're caught and sent back to North Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE ZAUGG, JOURNALIST: NGOs estimate that about 70 to 80 percent of women who cross into China actually end up being trafficked. So some of them will be sold by their initial broker who passes them on to a second broker, then to third, fourth, fifth broker. They pass into different hands like that and get sold each time and they finally end up being sold to the operator of a cyber-sex chat room.
And some other women actually just end up knocking on doors once they cross the border. Chinese people's homes and then get sold by these people onto a broker.
China doesn't consider them as political refugees, even though the U.N. has repeatedly said it should. It considers them as illegal economic migrants, and thus decides to send them back when it catches them.
And for someone being sent back to North Korea, that means facing probably weeks of interrogation and torture and then several months or even several years in a political reeducation camp or in a labor camp. Depending on the gravity, according to North Korea, of what they've done.
And so the ones that face the harshest punishment are usually the ones that had deem to have had contact with South Korean people in China or with South Korean missionaries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: For more about this you can read Julie's story at cnn.com. We'll be right back.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Live from Atlanta, Georgia. To viewers in the United States and around the world, you're watching CNN Newsroom. Thanks for being with us. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
In Hong Kong, organizers are calling for more demonstrations, this against a controversial extradition bill. Hundreds of thousands of people protested on Sunday. The measure would let suspects be transferred to mainland China, extradited. Hong Kong's chief executive has vowed to push forward with that bill.
The U.S. president is once again threatening tariffs on Mexican imports. President Trump tweeted the U.S. would consider them if the new U.S.-Mexico deal on migration doesn't work out. He also disputed a New York Times report that Mexico had agreed on tougher migration enforcement months before Friday's deal.
American Airlines is keeping its Boeing 737 MAX flights out of the air until September 3rd. The airline says the extension will mean the cancellation of 115 flights per day. Boeing 737 MAX has been grounded around the world since March. This following two deadly crashes.
In the State of Texas, a huge construction crane collapsed on to an apartment building. One person has died from that accident. At least five other people were injured.
Take a look here. This crane left a massive hole in the middle of this apartment complex. Rescue -- rescuers, they're now looking for any additional victims inside that mangled mess. High winds were reported in the area at the time of the collapse, but officials aren't ready to say if winds were the cause. Here's how one eyewitness described the devastation. Listen.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
SAMMY SANDQUIST, APARTMENT RESIDENT: We don't know if they've accounted for everybody. I know they're going in to check for people still and animals still. So we're watching people come out with animals all the time right now. We don't know yet if a tornado hit or not. Right now we don't know if it was just wind. We don't know if it was a tornado. We know that there was the thunderstorm that had hit. It was raining
like crazy. And so that was the weather that happened. It's lightened up right now. There's no rain and blue skies on one side and clouds on the other.
(END VOICE CLIP)
HOWELL: Again, what we do know is a strong storm passed through the DFW metroplex. Our Pedram Javaheri is here to tell us more about it. Pedram.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, George, it was shortly after 2 p.m. we had a strong thunderstorm. The storm actually originated out of the State of Oklahoma from the morning hours, traversed right into north Texas and eventually as it worked its way through the Dallas metro area, really, a blossoms into a tremendous thunderstorm here.
We did have severe thunderstorm watches that were issued in advance of this. A warning that was issued once the storm moved into the city. Seventy-one-mile-per-hour gusts observed in the Dallas area with this particular line of thunderstorms. So you know it's a serious storm when you factor in just a few miles per hour shy of what would be a category one hurricane.
Now you take a look at this. At ground level, we know that 71-mile- per-hour observation, when we get up into altitudes, say 20, 30 stories up, but typically you see the wind speeds increase some 20 to 30 percent because there is less friction aloft. So the higher up you go, you often do see winds at a greater speed. So easily you could estimate those winds would be much higher than the observed point of 71 miles per hour.
But you take a look, severe weather was really prevalent across this region on Sunday afternoon. One report of a tornado, but that was not in the Dallas metro area, but dozens and dozens of reports of wind damage and also a nice chunk of reports there also with hail damage.
In fact, officials across the Dallas metro area reporting ping-pong ball sized hail coming down across that region. So it really speaks to the significance of these storms. But here goes the front. That's the front.
The next one beginning to push through the eastern portion of the United States. Thunderstorms expected across this region. Areas from Washington on into New York City getting quite a bit of wet weather over the next 24 or so hours.
And then the other big story is what's happening across the western United States. Major heatwave in the works across portions of the Central Valley, parts of Oregon and Nevada and, of course, into the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Heat warnings in place here. Temps rising 10 to 12 degrees above average.
Look at Portland, Oregon, average temperature this time of year, right around room temperature, that would be 72 degrees. They're aiming for 95, then 97 degrees go 20 plus degrees above average but later in the week in Portland, Oregon. George?
[03:35:06] HOWELL: And Pedram, you know as well as I, they don't really have air conditioners up there in the Pacific northwest.
JAVAHERI: That's true.
HOWELL: So it is hot. Pedram, thank you very much.
JAVAHERI: Yes.
HOWELL: Now to Libya, and a CNN exclusive. Thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees are stranded in the country. Libya was their gateway to safe haven in Europe, but it is now in chaos as rival factions battle for power there.
It's been that way since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi eight years ago. The migrants there are caught in the middle. Europe won't take them in and going home is not an option for them.
Freelance cameraman Gabriel Chaim gained exclusive access to a detention center, but as CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman reports, their pleas for help are falling on deaf ears.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A priest leads prayers in a makeshift church. Air, train refugees in Libya, strangers they are in a strange land. Caught in a war not of their making.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because today is the holy day -- Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: They drew their own icons, crafted the crucifix. Freelance cameraman Gabriel Chaim gained access to this detention center, home to around 900 people on the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli. Most are refugees and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
The United Nations warns that more than 5,000 migrants and refugees in similar centers in Tripoli are in danger as the city has become a background between rival governments.
In April, gunmen with the so-called Libyan National Army led by war lord Khalifa Haftar broke into one such detention center south of Tripoli. Images recorded by eyewitnesses vividly conveyed the chaos and carnage as gunfire rings out. The attackers killed two mean and wounded nearly three dozen others. Sammy from Eritrea recalls what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At praying time, some of our sisters and brothers they were praying, the soldiers immediately opened fire. I don't know what happened. So immediately opened the fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WEDEMAN: The residents have been moved to safer ground, but some still have open wounds from that attack. The thousands of migrants now caught in Libya are perhaps the world's most vulnerable people. Stranded in a land at war where human traffickers and slave traders appear to have free reign.
Europe won't take them in and many face persecution or death if they return home. Here the milk of human kindness has evaporated. Zakaria Abdullah (Ph) from Darfur, Sudan says the fear, uncertainty and deprivation have taken a toll.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look the eyes of these people and how are the look, how they look. Because there is malnutrition. There is no good medical treatment. There is no good water. There is no food. We are just alive, we are living.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: Just living, he says. Twenty-one-year-old Mohammad Jafis (Ph), also from Darfur, has a simple reminder to anyone who will listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are human beings too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: No one, however, is listening.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.
HOWELL: Just ahead here on Newsroom, two British ISIS fighters known as the ISIS Beatles confessed their crimes and are now ready to apologize. They'll speak next.
[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back.
We want to show you the situation in Sudan where a campaign of civil disobedience is presently underway. Take a look here in the capital city. The streets of Khartoum mostly deserted on Sunday. People there chose to stay home from work.
This after the military's deadly raid on a protest camp last Monday. Protesters are demanding a civilian government following the ouster of Omar al-Bashir back in April.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The people cannot be governed by force. And I am not saying this neither as a member of the opposition nor as someone who supports the government, but the people do not want this government, and as you can see, the streets are empty, shops are closed. I personally want a civilian government.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The situation is not normal. Everything is closed. I couldn't find bread. I couldn't find anything, actually, except for these vegetables right here. Life is at a standstill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: An opposition medics group says 11 hospitals are shut down and medical services are being disrupted by Sudanese authorities. The group says two people were killed on Sunday, bringing the death toll since the crackdown to 118.
With the ISIS vision for a caliphate in ruins, the fate of thousands of ISIS fighters detained by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces it remains uncertain.
Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh spoke with two British nationals from the notorious ISIS group referred to as the 'Beatles.' They are now in custody.
And confessing to their crimes, CNN sent a camera crew to the prison facility where they are being held so Nick could interview them via video link about their offenses, about their fears, and their uncertain future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Their bravado gone, broken and begging to learn their fate. This is what's become of the widely reviled British ISIS fighters known as the 'Beatles' in captivity in Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EL SHAFEE ELSHEIKH, FORMER ISIS FIGHTER: I consider my role in this whole scenario, this whole episode as one of my mistakes. Yes, I would like to apologize for.
WALSH: Who would you like to apologize to?
ELSHEIKH: Everybody involved. Everybody who was affected directly or indirectly.
WALSH: They're accused of torture in ISIS' network of prison cells, which they deny, but now they do offer a rare confession. They tried to arrange ransoms for some of ISIS' European hostages.
ALEXANDER KOTEY, FORMER ISIS FIGHTER: I was a fighter extracting from them e-mail addresses for communication.
If it was a proof of life question, something that only they would be able to answer.
WALSH: Why did you agree to that role?
KOTEY: It just so happened that way.
ELSHEIKH: Same as what Alexander just explained. Initially just liaising between the foreign prisoners and people dealing with their negotiation process.
[03:45:06] WALSH: With their families to try to extract a ransom?
ELSHEIKH: Yes. Yes.
WALSH: Kotey admits too to helping via remote from Syria to get a firearm for an ISIS assassination plot that failed in London in 2016.
KOTEY: I was responsible for his acquisition of a firearm. As far as the details of any plot or what he then went on to do, I had no involvement in that.
WALSH: The grins they had when I met them a year ago in person were long gone.
KOTEY: Yes, I miss fish and chips.
WALSH: Now ISIS' so-called caliphate has been defeated. There too are thousands of ISIS prisoners held in northern Syria who don't know what will happen to them. The U.K. doesn't want them back, so they will stay here or face the death penalty in Iraq or more likely the United States.
I don't understand why are you doing this now? Are you trying to avoid being sent to the United States?
ELSHEIKH: If anything, I think that confession will maybe hasten our extradition or rendition to the United States. I don't think this is something that will prevent me from going to the United States at all. I don't see how that could be possible. I don't know where this goes from here on, I just know that I want this period, this portion to just be over. I know -- I know this is what needs to be done. The truth has to come out.
WALSH: ISIS slowly executed foreign hostages gruesomely, yet the pair insists they had no role in these murders or torture. Several former hostages have, however, said they were tortured by British accented men matching their appearance.
The fate of a dozen French prisoners, some seen here in these old ISIS propaganda videos, has been swiftly decided in the past weeks, sent from northern Syria to Iraq. There an Iraqi judge has sentenced them to death by hanging, often after only 10 minutes' deliberation and representation by lawyers, many have not met before the trial.
Responding to claims U.S. forces arranged the transfer, a coalition spokesman said U.S. forces have taken custody of a small number of ISIS fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces from transfer to the government of Iraq but provided no details.
SAMANTHA EL HASSANI, ISIS SUSPECT: We want to eat McDonald's. WALSH: American ISIS suspects like Samantha El Hassani have been sent
back to the U.S. for trial. But to those left behind, their fate unclear or possibly with an Iraqi hangman serve as a deterrent or a sign some nations don't want to finish the task of bringing them to justice.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: What an historic night. A win on Sunday. Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Thiem, clinching his 12th French Open title in Paris. Nadal is the first player ever to win 12 titles at any Grand Slam event.
Journalist Ravi Ubha has more now from Paris.
RAVI UBHA, TENNIS WRITER AND BROADCASTER: For years, people have wondered will Rafael Nadal catch Roger Federer on the Grand Slam ladder? He's been close but now he's closer than ever before.
For the first time Nadal's pulled to within two Grand Slams of Federer, thanks to his record 12th crowned at the French Open. And with every title he had at Roland-Garros come seemingly another record. And this year Nadal became the first player ever to win the same major a dozen times.
Nadal said earlier this tournament he felt someone would come along one day and better his trophy haul. He was being genuine, but it could be wrong on this one. His mastery of Roland-Garros is unmatched by any tennis player on any surface in any era.
Dominic Thiem may have lose, but he demonstrated why he is one of the fittest players in tennis. After beating world number one Novak Djokovic in their semifinal and spending three hours on court Saturday, he still tested Nadal early before running out of steam.
Thiem could still win the French open someday, but that may only happen when Nadal is no longer a contender, but that might not be any time soon.
Ravi Ubha, CNN, Paris.
HOWELL: Ravi, thanks.
Also underway in France, the Women's World Cup on Sunday. Italy landed a win in their return to the tournament after a 20-year absence. It beat Australia's Matilda in stoppage time by a score of two to one. Brazil got a big star with a three-nil victory over Jamaica's Reggae Girlz. Striker Christiane scored the hat trick 139 (Inaudible).
And England won the day in their great rivalry with Scotland by a score two to one.
This year's Women's World Cup has been called by many the biggest to date. FIFA's goal, it is two-fold, to sell a total of one million tickets and to capture a global TV viewership of one billion for the tournament.
Our Amanda Davies explains the excitement in the host country is not that high at this point.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORTS PRESENTER: It's Sunday afternoon and here we are in the Paris fan zone where as you can see there are a few supporters, but it's not really buzzing, and for all the talk that this is set to be the biggest and best Women's World Cup yet with TV audiences of a record one billion people around the world, whilst there is some interest. I think it's fair to say there's not exactly overwhelming World Cup fever on the streets of Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIES: How excited are you about the Women's World Cup?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very excited about the Women's World Cup, especially Brazil.
DAVIES: Have you got any interest in any of the sport going on at the minute?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the minute, maybe, like, sometimes we watch soccer, but now that the season is over so we're not -- not into soccer now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DAVIES: How about the Women's World Cup?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Women's World Cup. It's now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DAVIES: Going on right here in France.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
DAVIES: Do you know what sport is happening in France, in Paris at the moment?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. I think tennis. I think, no?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roland-Garros.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roland-Garros.
[03:54:59] DAVIES: And the football.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Football? Is there not one?
DAVIES: The Women's World Cup. So what do you know that's going on at the moment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roland-Garros, so the tennis tournaments.
DAVIES: Anything else? How about the Women's World Cup?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's also right now.
DAVIES: Have you heard about the Women's World Cup?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. In fact, I went to see one of the matches. Argentina against Germany.
DAVIES: Germany won yesterday. Did you not watch?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it true that the World Cup is here for women?
DAVIES: Have you met many other people who are here as fans for the tournament as well?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not too many. But when we came here, obviously there's people from Australia and Brazil and the USA. So, yes, once you get into this bit, it's good.
DAVIES: You should be watching. France are going to win the World Cup. France will win.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I know that. So I don't know any names. Of the women's game. I don't know any names.
DAVIES: Maybe that will change over the next few weeks.
Now you know the World Cup is going on. Might you watch some of the Women's World Cup?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundred percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's ridiculous that we didn't even recognize that the World Cup is here in France.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIES: So there's definitely room for improvement, but it is still early days with over three weeks of football left to play. The real hope for the women's game moving forward is that the action on the pitch leaves a more lasting legacy off it.
Amanda Davies, CNN, Paris.
HOWELL: Amanda, thank you. And thank you for being with us for CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell at the CNN center in Atlanta. For our viewers in the United States, Early Start is next. For viewers around the world, my colleague Max Foster is on deck, live from London. Thank you for being with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
