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Taliban Attacks Afghan Parliament; Details of Recent Fighting Against ISIS; Latest on Greek Debt Crisis; Confederate Flag Controversy; President Obama Uses N-Word in Remarks on Race; Chinese Dog Meat Festival Examined. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired June 22, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

ISHA SESAY: Hello, and welcome to the International Desk. I'm Isha Sesay at the CNN Center. Terrifying moments inside Afghanistan's Parliament

today as the Taliban staged a brazen attack on lawmakers. Take a look at this.

(SCREAMS)

SESAY: That was the sound of a large car bomb going off outside. That explosion was followed by gunfire and rockets. Only the attackers were

killed; although, more than 30 civilians were killed -- well, were wounded. Forgive me for saying that, were wounded. Well, CNN international

correspondent Nic Robertson joins us from CNN's London Bureau with more. Nic, the timing of this attack was highly significant. Tell us more about

what happened.

NIC ROBERTSON: Yeah. Isha, if I just -- I can just quickly give you an update on what we've heard about that casualty figures. Initially, we were

told 31 civilians injured. Now we understand from Cauble that two civilians were killed. One was a woman, one a child. Twenty-eight other

civilians injured, nine of them, women and children, and you can see, caught on the video there, just how close this suicide bomber and a vehicle

full of explosives must have been to rock the building, to cast debris down there on the lawmakers inside the building.

The timing though, the Parliament there was voting on a vote of confidence and the new defense minister, and the timing seems to be very much of the

Taliban's choosing. On the one hand, the Parliamentarians are voting about a new defense minister. The Taliban are saying, well, you can vote for a

new defense minister, but we're still out -- right outside here. We're on the streets of the capitol. We can come and target you. The reality,

however, though, the security around the Parliamentarians was strong enough to hold the Taliban back. They went into the -- six attacks went into

another building before the security forces killed them there, Isha.

SESAY: Yeah. Nic, while the security around the Parliament may have been strong, it still brings up the question once again of Afghanistan's ability

to maintain security without NATO's help.

ROBERTSON: And you look at some of the recent attacks in Cauble. The Taliban have typically gone after softer targets where they've been able to

kill people and injure more people, and the Taliban's ability, not just in the capitol, but in other parts of the country. They recently executed

people they call spies in Nangarhar Province in the North. In the East, there have been decreasing or, rather, increasing Taliban attacks in the

North of the country, so the picture in Afghanistan at the moment is one where the government isn't able to extend its written control as far as it

wants to. Voting for a new or -- installing a new defense minister, would be a step in that direction, but, so far, there's a lot of work to be done,

Isha.

SESAY: Yeah, indeed, CNN International Correspondant Nic Robertson joining us there from London. Thank you.

Now, ISIS militants in Syria have reportedly planted land mines and explosives at the ancient Ruins of Palmyra. An activist group says it's

unclear whether they're planning on blowing up the site or trying to stop government troops from advancing on the city. ISIS took over Palmyra last

month. It's believed the militants executed around 200 people when they moved in. Over the past year, ISIS militants have proven to be tenacious

fighters, but there have been coalition victories. Kurdish fighters recently recaptured the border town of Tel Abyad in Syria. CNN's Arwa

Damon was among the first journalist to visit the former ISIS stronghold. In a series of exclusive reports, she explores how this battle may be a

blueprint for future fights against ISIS.

ARWA DAMON: Even members of the YPG, the Kurdish fighting force that we were speaking to, were expressing just how surprised they, themselves, were

at how quickly they were able to move through such vital terrain. For two years, ISIS reigned with impunity over this rural landscape, a vital

frontier to defend and supply its stronghold of Raqqa, now beaten back. There was a coalition air strike Orhan (ph) was just saying on that side of

this underground tunnel that goes around the entire village. ISIS had moved into this particular area about two years ago. This, obviously, dug

out with heavy machinery about three-feet-three inches, a meter wide and pretty high as well, and then you can see the metal ceiling, roof, that was

put into it running throughout. ISIS' tunnel is fairly crude but still highly effective when it comes to giving them freedom of movement

throughout the entire area. This is the road that runs parallel to the Turkish border and berms like this one had cut it off completely. This was

just one of ISIS' many defenses that they had put into place. What Orhan (ph) is saying is that the air strikes that happened here were key. They

took place just a few days before forces advanced into Mambruka, and they were highly effective. In just four weeks, the air strikes allowed the YPG

to advance some 80 kilometers, 50 miles, taking over key territory including the town of Tel Abyad and the border crossing, cutting off one of

the main ISIS supply routes. When the coalition against ISIS was formed, we were the only force that was committed in the fight against

ISIS. Commander of the Tel Abyad front Beilad (ph) Roshava (ph), says, the coalition saw this and coordinated with us. He won't disclose specifics.

Here, the US can say that its strategy has delivered a blow to ISIS, but the battlefield is vast and the blueprint for success, hardly easy to

replicate. One of the biggest challenges the US and the coalition will face in trying to replicate this strategy, if that is even possible, is

trying to find similarly reliable partners on the ground elsewhere in Syria and Iraq.

SESAY: Well, the stories Arwa Damon heard don't stop there. One of the tales involves the so-called roundabout of death, one of the punishments

ISIS carried out. Exclusive report from inside Tel Abyad continues tomorrow only here on CNN. Well, a new proposal from Athens are raising

hopes for a resolution to the Greek debt crisis, and, right now, all eyes on are today's Eurozone Summit in Brussels to see if a deal with be reached

to keep Greece from going into default next week. Germany, the key creditor, and out Atika Shubert is standing by now in Berlin, but first we

go to Elinda Labropoulou live in Athens. Elinda, and 11th-hour concession offered by Greece. Do we have any specifics are what they are proposing?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU: Although they have not been made public yet, we have spoken to diplomatic sources who have talked to us a little bit about what

the proposal is, and what we do see Greece being prepared to cross a number of the red lines that he had set until now. Some of these red lines are to

do with pensions. Greece is likely to increase their retirement age to 67 years of age. It's also likely to raise VAT in a number of projects, so we

see that Greece is starting to make these concessions that the Europeans have been expecting for a long time. We know that we had some positive

signs out of today's Euro Group, and we have had voices saying that, well, this seems to be a proposal that can be used as a basis for an agreement.

At the same time, following the Euro Group and the press conference that ended a while ago, we've heard that there's not going to be a solid final

solution there, but this was not what we expected to begin with. We were always expecting this to be taken to a higher political level for the

politicians to really make the final decision on Greece because the issue is more political than anything else, so we are still waiting for the

summits tonight to see how this is going to play out, Isha.

SESAY: All right. Elinda, stand by first. I want to bring in Atika Shubert who's standing by for us in Berlin. Atika, tell us a little bit

more about the reaction to this proposal, and, really, the Eurozone, the Euro Group meeting that just ended, was any progress made?

ATIKA SHUBERT: Well, there does seem to be a optmi -- more optimistic tone in the press conference that just ended there. We heard from the Euro

Group President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, saying that there is this new proposal as a basis for talks, but they still haven't had the opportunity to really

look at the details, and that's the big question for Germany. What are the details? How comprehensive a program is this, and is it enough? That will

be the big question here. Earlier in the day, just a few hours ago, actually, Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, basically wasn't

optimistic at all. He said there had been no new proposals that he had seen, and so that there seem to be a way forward. That seemed to change,

however, with this recent press conference saying that there was some breakthrough. The big question is going to be tonight when they final get

started on the technical talks whether or not this can actually move forward to some sort of an agreement later in the week.

SESAY: Yeah. We shall see. All right. Elinda Labropoulou joining us there from Athens, and Atika Shubert there in Berlin. My thanks to you

both. Now, to a dramatic finishes here in the US open from young contender in the game of golf. 21-year old Masters champion Jordan Spieth birdied

the final hole to finish at 5 under 275. That makes him the youngest US open winner since 1923.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's hear it one more time, Jordan Spieth, you're a winner.

JORDAN SPIETH: It's beyond what I had dreamed, what I have ever dreamt of. I mean, this is a -- what an incredible week, handling kind of the nerves

and just the grind that is the US Open and to come out on top in just a weird day and a weird finish, but an exciting one.

SESAY: Well, World Sport will have more on Spieth's victory in just over 30 minutes from now, so do stay with us for that. US President Barack

Obama speaks out on racism in the US, and he's using a historically offensive word to get his point across. We'll tell you what he said when

we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back everyone. The city of Charleston, South Carolina, is sending a message of unity days after a massacre meant to ignite divisions.

Thousands of people march across the Charleston Bridge in honor of the nine people shot and killed Wednesday at Emanuel AME Church. We're told the

shooter wanted to start a race war. Instead, the community has been gathering in solidarity. Well, investigators are now taking a look at a

racist manifesto that appeared on a website registered to the confessed gunman, Dylann Roof. The text details a philosophy of white superiority.

Roof is also seen in several photos holding a gun and holding the Confederate battle flag. Well, that flag is still flying high on the

grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol. Protesters rallied in Columbia over the weekend demanding it be taken down. The flag was used by

the South during the American civil war. Some say it's a part of their heritage. For others, it's a symbol of racism that has no place on state

grounds. Republican State representative in South Carolina told CNN, he plans to propose legislation to remove it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about a flag that hangs on state ground, on land owned by the people of this state, and in my opinion, if even one

South Carolinian, finds it to be offensive, it shouldn't be on state land. It should not be on the land where progress is supposed to take place, but,

yet, with that symbol, we're actually backing up.

SESAY: Well, taking the flag down won't be easy. It requires the support of two-thirds of lawmakers in a state where there's long been fierce

support for the symbol. The shooting in Charleston, along with recent high-profile cases involving the deaths of black men have raised the

question at how prominent racism still is right here in the United States. President Barack Obama is now saying it's very much alive during an

interview released today, he made his point using language many may consider offensive.

BARACK OBAMA: The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and

that's still part of our DNA that's passed on. It -- we're not cured of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Racism.

BARACK OBAMA: Racism, we are not cured of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly.

BARACK OBAMA: And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or

not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. We have -- societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened two to three

hundred years prior.

SESAY: Well, CNN political reporter M.J. Lee joins us now from New York. M.J., good to have you with us. You know, for a lot of people, you know,

it's raising eyebrows why the president was, you know, decide to cross a red line to many and go there and use in kind of language. What are we

hearing from the White House in terms of an explanation for the president's decision to use that word?

M.J. LEE: Sure. As you know, President Obama is famous for being sort of this cool-headed, level-headed, you know, in public not showing a lot of

emotions kind of a president, so I think it's been all the more striking to see his response to the shooting in South Carolina. When he first made his

remarks, you could tell that he was visibly angry. He was frustrated. He said, you know, I've had to make statements like this after mass shooting

too many times as president, and I think the administration and the White House, especially, as the president looks towards the end of his

presidency, is not afraid to go there. He wants to make the case that this, in his opinion, is unacceptable that he is angry that our Congress

here in the US has not taken action to do something about gun control, and I think it's a message that we are going to hear more and more from him;

especially, as the national dialog here has been really focused on racial tensions, on police brutality, especially against African-Americans.

SESAY: M.J., context is important. Explain to our viewers who the president was speaking to. What was the context of the interview. Who was

the context of the interviewer? Who was the interviewer that he made these comments to. Sure. This was a radio interview. He was talking broadly,

and this was not just an interview about what happened in South Carolina, but, of course, I think because of the timing and because it happened just

a couple of days ago. This is really the news event that has really captured the nation, and I think it's important to understand, as you said,

the context of his comments. He wasn't saying that the country has not come a long way since, you know, he himself was born to a white mother and

a black father. He was actually making the case that the country has made enormous progress since, you know, in the last 30, 40 years, but his point

was, just because we don't hear offensive words like the N-word, we don't hear that a lot in public, does not mean that, you know, racial tensions

are not really embedded into the fabric of this country still. So the question is where did the conversation go from here? You know, the

president has crossed, well, many will consider it to be a line, and used this language. Even if it is to make a point, some would say it's still

crossing the line. Where does the conversation about racism go now? Where does the White House take that conversation?

M.J. LEE: Sure. I mean, I think the president's frustration with Congress whether it can do something on gun control is real. It's really represents

the fact that it's really difficult at this day and age to get something done on gun control. He mentioned the NRA's powerful presence in this

country. Its lobbying efforts are really strong, and I think a lot of public officials really have to contend with that. I think it's been

interesting to see that 2016 presidential candidates have to grapple with this question, of, well, what about the Confederate flag that flies in

South Carolina? Should that be taken down, and a lot of the Republican candidates have really said, well, this is not for us to weight into. This

is not a debate for us to decide. This is for South Carolina to decide. I think, other than former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the candidates have

been really reticent to really weight into this extremely complicated and complex issue.

SESAY: Yeah. M.J. Lee joining us there from New York. Really appreciate the insight. Thanks so much.

LEE: Thanks.

SESAY: Well, scorching heat kills more than 100 people in Pakistan, and power outages in Ramadan fasting are only making things worse. Next, how

much longer the high temperatures are set to last. Plus, the feet are soon to keep bouncing after midnight in Japan. Lawmakers relax a dancing ban in

place for nearly seven decades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. Authorities in Pakistan are trying to figure out how many people died during the record-breaking heatwave over the weekend.

Reports citing and government health officials say the death toll is at least 180 in Karachi. Temperatures there reached nearly 45 degrees on

Saturday. That is the highest in 15 years. Frequent power outages are making it harder for residents to cope, and many are going out -- going

without food and water during the day in observance of Ramadan. Well, meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now from the CNN Weather Center. Chad, I

mean, it's just a terrible combination --

CHAD MEYERS: Yes.

SESAY: -- coming together, Ramadan and this heat.

MEYERS: And we don't have monsoon yet. We have monsoon moisture, humidity, but not the monsoonal rains, not the monsoonal clouds that come

in, in the afternoon to cool the place down.

SESAY: Uh-huh.

CHAD MEYERS: And it really -- 45 in the desert is hot, but it's not hot like it is here because the humidity is in.

SESAY: Yeah.

MEYERS: It feels like -- I'm not sure you can put your fingers on this, your mind around this. It's 58 degrees is what it feels like during the

afternoon heat, in the summertime, in the sunshine, and even right now, it is still very warm, 36 in Karachi, and it's already getting to be

nighttime. It's 7:35 or so out there. Things are starting to cool down a little bit, but it has been a very, very hot couple of days. Saturday was

44.8 degrees in the afternoon. That's at hot as we can find back from the past 30 years that has been hotter, clearly, but it's the humidity that's

getting into at this point. Here is your heat index, 58, 55, 55 and 51. Karachi felt like 51 degrees, which means, even in the evening, when it

starts to cool down, your body can't cool down because it's still above your body temperature. Even if your body sweats, it's not cooling down.

There's no place for that sweat to evaporate, can't cool you down if your body can't cool itself down. Here's the Ramadan weather. Ramadan changes

about 10 to 11 days every year. This is the first time we've been to the longest days of the year, so no food and no water while the sun is up,

another problem there. People are getting into the pools, getting into water. They say that's okay as long as you don't drink any of the water

that you're swimming in because that would be against the fast, impacts longer days, hot weather here. It is so going to be hot, but it's cooling

down. We finally will get some rainfall. That rain will help us out. The clouds will come in. We'll begin to get Karachi at least, down back into

the 30's, and that's still very hot, but it is not in the 40's.

SESAY: Yeah.

CHAD MEYERS: We're not talking 45. We're not talking heat index around 55 to 58 degrees, which I can't even imagine --

SESAY: No.

CHAD MEYERS: -- what that feels like.

SESAY: No.

MEYERS: Truly, it must feel like you're inside of a Formula 1 race car without moving, just all that heat just sinking right into your body.

SESAY: It's awful, and then the fact that they're not able to get, you know, the cooling that they need because they're having power outages.

MEYERS: That's right, too.

SESAY: The elderly are suffering. In fact, the majority of people who have died, according to one report I read, have been the elderly. It's a

bad situation.

MEYERS: It is.

SESAY: Chad, we appreciate you for keeping an eye on it. Thank you.

MEYERS: Uh-huh.

SESAY: Now, a UN report says all sides may have committed war crimes during the conflict in Gaza last summer. The report says both Israel and

the Palestinian militant groups failed to do enough to protect civilians. More than 2100 Palestinians and 70 Israelis were killed during that war.

The international criminal court is already looking into the conflate. The Palestinians say they're reviewing the findings, but Israel blasted the

UN's investigation, and, quote, morally flawed and politically motivated. Pope Francis made history in Turin, Italy, today, becoming the first Pope

ever to visitation a Waldensian house of worship. The Waldensians are a small partisan movement, and the Pope apologized for the Catholic Church's

persecution of them centuries ago. Later, Pope Francis prayed and had lunch with about 30 members of his extended family. His father was from

the Turin region before emigrating to Argentina. Now, if you go dancing after midnight in Japan, you're risking a run-in with the law. Late night

dancing has been illegal there for decades, but the government is finally easing those restrictions, Will Ripley reports and shows us what Tokyo's

night life stands to gain.

WILL RIPLEY: In the non-stop scramble of Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing, people don't think twice about dancing in the streets, but late night dancing in

clubs had been outlawed in Japan for almost 70 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy, don't make any sense. It's a dance club.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my goodness.

WILL RIPLEY: Like the classic fairytale Cinderella --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's midnight.

RIPLEY: -- dancing past a certain hour has long been risky in Japan. Bars and nightclubs even put up these signs trying to avoid problems with police

who call dance clubs magnets for drugs, violence, and sex crimes. For years, Japanese dance clubs have been forced to go underground. That's

because of a law dating back to 1948 that forbids dancing in bars, clubs, pretty much any public venue after midnight or 1:00 a.m. What that means

is, everything you're seeing in this room right now, is technically illegal. Japanese lawmakers voted last week to relax the dancing ban, a

law going back to the American occupation after World War II when dance halls were often a front for prostitution. Police looked the other way for

decades, allowing Japan's dance scene to thrive, but high-profile drug cases and a deadly brawl about five years ago, led to a surge of arrests

from club raids like this one in 2013. It's wrong, she says. We need to dance. The new law says that clubs can't be too dark, an attempt to

discourage crime, and until changes take effect next year, after hours dancing like this is still against the law. Do you ever worry about the

police coming here and arresting people? Of course, I worry about it every day. I've been worry for 30 years says Tokyo club owner Dyso Morata (ph).

He says he spent 21 days in jail for violating Japan's dancing ban, Morata (ph) is part of a movement demanding change. One hundred fifty thousand

people signs a petition to lawmakers. Now the artists and DJ's will be able to work safely, he says. More great artists will be able to come

here. He says Japan's war on dance is finally over. The victory dance will keep going long after the clock strikes midnight. Will Ripley, CNN,

Tokyo.

SESAY: Here at the iDesk, still ahead, Taylor Swift has taken on tech giant Apple and won, the power of the pop star's online Tumblr account.

Plus, coming up on the ranks of professional golf, Jordan Spieth wins another major. Details coming up in World Sport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome to the International Desk. I'm Isha Sesay here are the headlines. Afghanistan authorities now say a woman and a child were killed

in an attack on the Parliament Building today. Twenty-eight other civilians were wounded. The Taliban blew up a car bomb outside the gates,

then opened fire with machine guns and rockets. The militant group has recently stepped up attacks in Morthern Afghanistan. Europe is giving a

cautious welcome to a new proposals from Athens that resulted in the Greek debt crisis. That's the focus of a crucial summit in Brussels where

Eurozone leaders are trying to hammer out of a deal to keep Greece from going into default next week. A heatwave in Pakistan has reportedly killed

at least 180 people in Karachi. Temperatures reached nearly 45 degrees over the weekend. The scorching heat comes as most Pakistanis fast for

Ramadan. Power outages are making the situation even more difficult. A law enforcement source tells CNN investigators have found DNA from two

fugitive of killers in New York state. It was on (inaudible) inside a cabin about 30 kilometers from the prison they escaped from on June 6th.

This comes just after a tip had taken the search nearly 500 kilometers away.

Now, Taylor Swift has spoken, and Apple, apparently, has listened. The pop star threatened to withhold her album 1989 from apples new music streaming

service. In an open letter posted online, she criticized the tech giant for its decision not to pay artists during a free trial period. Apple

responded swiftly by changing its policy. And I want to bring in our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. He joins us from our New York

studio. Brian, I mean, this win by Taylor Swift really Does bring home the immense industry power of this 25-year-old.

BRIAN STELTER: Absolutely. There is nobody like her right now in the music industry. She was publishing this blog post in the morning, and by

the evening, Apple, had reserved -- reversed its position, and this was all about the three-month free trial period that Apple is offering. Apple is

trying to get into the streaming music business, so they want to have you sign up for free for three months, and in that period, they weren't going

to be paying the artists for all the songs that are played, so Taylor wrote this in her blog post. She said, it's not too late to change this policy.

We don't ask you for free iPhones. Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation, and she said she was doing this not for

herself. She makes --

SESAY: Uh-huh.

STELTER: -- plenty of money from tours and things like that, but, instead, doing this for young artists who do need the money from each stream of the

songs we all play online.

SESAY: Yeah.

STELTER: So at the end of the day, here's what Apple had said, the senior vice president, Eddy Cue, said he had reached out to Taylor, and he Tweeted

and said Apple will pay the artists for streaming even during the free trial period. He said, we hear you, Taylor, and, in the artists, love

Apple. Nobody about Taylor, I think, would have gotten --

SESAY: Yeah.

BRIAN STELTER: -- that response that quickly.

SESAY: Yeah. No, there's no doubt about it. I agree. I don't think there's anyone else. But, you know, to her point about this benefitting

lesser known, less well [sic] of artists, it's a very, very important point; especially, as --

STELTER: Uh-huh.

SESAY: -- this media technological landscape changes, and people aren't buying albums, aren't buying music the way they used to, so these avenues

are the way for people to make money.

STELTER: Absolutely, there's a land rush right now going on to figure out the future of the music industry, to figure out the future of streaming

music. Taylor Swift was very clear in her blog post. She thinks Apple might have the solution to a lot of the problems that exist right now when

it comes to the consumption of music and the distribution of music. She says she's rooting for Apple music to succeed, so about having Apple coming

out and reverse its position, it's turning a terrible PR moment into actually good PR. Apple Music Service launches at the end of the month.

Now, Taylor has not said officially that she's going to put her albums on the service, that she'll put her new album on the service, but it would

sure look like she's going to now that she's had this big win, and, by the way, this happened on the exact same day her latest single hit number 1 on

the pop charts.

SESAY: Wow.

BRIAN STELTER: So, you know, it goes to show just what unique position she's in right now to be able to command an audience with just a, you know,

a simple blog post on Tumblr.

SESAY: Yeah. I do think it's interesting that this faux pas should come from Apple, you know, a company that has been very on point with his

messaging, and its ability to figure out what people want. It was just a real misstep, and I was surprised it came from that.

STELTER: You know, this was a careful planned out thing by Apple. They had finished the contracts for this about how they were going to pay

artists, and the idea here was, they were going to pay artists a little bit more after the free trial period, and -- but not pay them during the free

trial period. This was a bone of contention in the negotiations with music labels according to Reko (ph) which has been following this very closely,

but, most of the music labels went ahead and acquiesced to this, but what Taylor Swift said was there was a lot dissent and discomfort among artists,

particularly, young artists. She said they were afraid to speak up, so she wanted to speak up for them.

SESAY: Good for Taylor. Brian Stelter joining us there from New York, appreciate it. Thanks so much for --

BRIAN STELTER: Thanks.

SESAY: -- the insight. Thank you. Now, still to come here at the iDesk. There's an uproar over an annual Dog Meat Festival over in China, how the

event has become a cultural battle ground.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. The leader of North Korea is touting what state media call the country's first female fighter jet pilot. Kim Jong Un calls

them heros of Korea and flowers of the sky. North Korea has one of the world's largest Air forces, but there is doubt as to how many of its

fighter jets are actually combat worthy. An annual Dog Meat Festival is under way in Yulin, China. The event has taken place for years, but with

changing attitudes about animal welfare, activists are demanding the tradition stop. CNN's Anna Coren reports on this year's festival, but we

should warn you, the images you are about to see are disturbing.

ANNA COREN: At a market in Yulin, in Southern China, a woman hacks away at chunks of meat on the table. Our cameraman moves in closer to find a pile

of dead dogs (inaudible) a blow torch lying on the ground. Not pleased with the media attention, the locals lash out and continue to show their

hostility. For these residents, killing dogs and pilling (ph) the meat is a way of life that's celebrated annually at the Yulin Dog Meat Festival,

and this year, it's as popular as ever. Eating dog meat is the same as eating chicken or beef, says this restaurant owner. We've had to kill more

dogs because more people have come. We sell what people want. While consuming dog meat isn't common across all of the China, in some provinces,

it is considered a delicacy, and though the Yulin government has distanced itself from the festival, it hasn't stopped customers from arriving in

droves. Eating dog is good for your health. It's better than eating pork, says this customer. Dog lovers, go ahead and love your dogs, but you can't

stop us from eating dogs. But some people are desperately trying. Animal rights activists like Yang Xiaoyun want to put a stop to what they say is

a cruel event. The 65-year-old spent more than thousand dollars to save the lives of a hundred dogs, but as she well knows, that's a drip in the

ocean. At the moment, we don't have the ability to change people's habits. It's the government's responsibilities isn't it? If the government had

animal protection laws, the people would change, but there's no way the few of us who come here every year to buy dogs can change people's habits.

Joining the fight to save man's best friend, is British comedian, Ricky Gervais, who's been promoting the international campaign to stop the

festival, which has received nearly four million signatures. It's misleading to call Yulin a dog meat festival. It should be called a dog

torture festival because that's what it is, and we've made images of dogs crammed into cages awaiting a gruesome fate broadcast around the world.

Many hope the days of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival are numbered. Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

SESAY: Now, to a summer memorial issue, a short time ago in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown

Soldier, marking the 74th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. That event was followed by four years of fighting that

killed more than 20 million people. And that does it for us here at the International Desk. I'm Isha Sesay, but don't go anywhere. World Sport

with Alex Thomas is up next.

END