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Texas Shooting Suspect Found Mentally Incompetent in 2012; Life on the Edge of Korea's DMZ; U.S. President on Three-Day Visit to Alaska; ISIS Destroys Syrian Antiquities; Refugees Boarded Westbound Trains in Hungary; Europe Divided over How to Handle Migrant Crisis; Deadly Clashes Erupt Outside Ukrainian Parliament; 7,000 More Clinton Emails Released; Russia Looks to Claim More Arctic Territory; WORLD SPORT Highlights. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 01, 2015 - 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): Ambush mystery. Prosecutors in Texas release new details about the suspect in the brutal murder of a sheriff's deputy.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Act now or face the consequences: President Barack Obama's dire warning on the dangers of climate change.
VAUSE (voice-over): And the jokes go viral after Kanye West announces his plans to run for president.
ASHER: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you so much for being with us, I'm Zain Asher.
Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause, CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
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VAUSE: And we will start with new details on the ambush and murder of a sheriff's deputy in the U.S. state of Texas. The district attorney says Deputy Darren Goforth was shot 15 times while filling the tank of his cruiser. The alleged gunman, Shannon Miles, unloading his entire clip.
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ASHER (voice-over): Now so far even though officials say that Miles is cooperating with police, they still do not know what his motive was. We're also learning that Miles has a history of mental illness and was once found too mentally incompetent to stand trial. Here's our Ed Lavandera with more.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've learned that in October of 2012, Shannon Miles, the man accused of murdering Deputy Darren Goforth, was arrested and criminally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon but instead of standing trial, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state mental hospital for six months.
This comes as prosecutors detailed in the most excruciating way some of the details of how this murder unfolded.
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): It was so quiet when Shannon Miles walked into the Houston courtroom you could only hear the sound of the shackles around his ankles and waist. A show of force looking on as several dozen sheriff's deputies stared down the man accused of killing their fellow officer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He unloaded the entire weapon into Deputy Goforth.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Prosecutors gave the most detailed account yet of how Shannon Miles allegedly ambushed Deputy Darren Goforth as he was walking back to his patrol car at pump number 8.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He runs up behind Deputy Goforth and puts a gun to the back of his head and shoots. Deputy Goforth hits the ground and then he continues to unload his gun, shooting repeatedly into the back of Deputy Goforth.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The prosecutor says Miles emptied all the rounds from his 0.40 caliber handgun, 15 shots in all, before walking to his truck and driving away from the scene. Deputy Goforth left dead in a pool of his own blood, shell casings on the ground around him.
On this spot now, a memorial of teddy bears and flowers has blossomed in Deputy Goforth's honor.
Investigators say ballistics tests link the shell casings at the crime scene to a hand gun found in Shannon Miles' own garage. Investigators are trying to determine a motive for a shooting investigators describe as cowardly and cold-blooded. But the sheriff says Deputy Goforth was targeted because he wore a uniform.
SHERIFF RON HICKMAN: This rhetoric has gotten out of control. We've heard black lives matter. All lives matter, well, cops' lives matter, too. So why don't we just drop the qualifier and just say lives matter and take that to the bank?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): According to Miles' Facebook page, he bounced around various Houston-area college, including the university where Sandra Bland was supposed to work.
SANDRA BLAND: Don't touch me, I'm not under arrest. You don't have the right --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are under -- LAVANDERA (voice-over): Bland's case garnered intense scrutiny this summer when she was found dead in her jail cell after being arrested during a traffic stop. All of this happened just a few miles down the road from where Miles lives and where he allegedly shot and killed Deputy Goforth.
LAVANDERA: It's becoming increasingly clear that mental health issues will take a bigger role in this murder investigation. We've learned that prosecutors have issued a subpoena for an area mental health hospital for the records of Shannon Miles.
This also comes as one of Shannon Miles' attorneys tells us that one of the first things they will do is order up a psychological evaluation of the murder suspect who faces the death penalty in this case -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston, Texas.
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ASHER: We want to shift gears now to U.S. politics. New polls from key states in the U.S. presidential election show a shakeup when it comes to the front runners of both parties. Now of course a lot could change in the next five months but it seems as though Donald Trump has a little bit of competition.
VAUSE: Indeed he does. In fact, Trump has lost his lead in the state of Iowa, this according to a new Monmouth University poll. He's now tied with Ben Carson at 23 percent. Trump had been leading the field for the past month in Iowa, the first state which votes for the Republican nominee.
ASHER: And, as for Democrats, you're seeing a similar preference for anti-establishment --
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ASHER: -- candidates. New polls show that Hillary Clinton's closest rival, Bernie Sanders, is of course gaining on her.
VAUSE: CNN's Joe Johns has the latest on the Democratic presidential field.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT.: That is not Hillary Clinton's position.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bernie Sanders ratcheting up his rhetoric against the long-time Democratic front-runner as a new poll shows him surging in Iowa. Clinton still leads in the early voting state, 37 percent to 30 percent but the trend is troubling for her.
In May, Clinton was at 57 percent. But since then, she's lost a staggering third of her support.
Hillary Clinton This is going to be competitive. It should be competitive. It's only the presidency of the United States we're talking about.
JOHNS (voice-over): She's been called the inevitable nominee before and maintains she's always expected the race to heat up.
SANDERS: We need a movement which takes on the economic and political establishment.
JOHNS (voice-over): Sanders' popularity only growing as he touts his progressive credentials and drawing a sharper contrast with the policy differences dividing the two candidates.
An I believe we should expand Social Security by lifting the cap on taxable income. That's not Hillary Clinton's position. I believe we've got to raise the minimum wage over a period of several years to 15 bucks and hour -- not Hillary Clinton's position. I voted against the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for it.
JOHNS (voice-over): Meanwhile, she is now pursuing a more aggressive approach to the e-mail controversy that has long dogged her campaign.
CLINTON: Well, I know people have raised questions about my e-mail use as secretary of state and I understand why. I get it. I never sent any classified material nor received any marked classified.
JOHNS (voice-over): But the questions over her use of a private e mail server are sure to continue as the State Department releases another batch of her e-mails tonight.
Democrats polled in Iowa largely said Clinton's use of e-mail didn't bother them. But one sign of concern, those who support Sanders said they felt more strongly about him than those who said they backed Clinton -- Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
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ASHER: Staying on Hillary Clinton now, the U.S. State Department has released another 7,000 of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. A government official says that more than 100 of them had information that has since been classified. They were sent to a personal address on a private server that Clinton used while she was secretary of state.
Now the State Department says it has now released a quarter of Clinton's e-mails from her four years as secretary of state.
VAUSE: The U.S. president has issued a warning on climate change verging on apocalyptic. At the same time, he was sharply critical of those who still deny human activity is warming the planet.
ASHER: Mr. Obama was speaking at an international conference in Anchorage, Alaska. This is actually the start of a three-day visit to highlight the impact of climate change, which he called the defining threat of the century.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The point is that climate change is no longer some far-off problem. It is happening here. It is happening now. Climate change is already disrupting our agriculture and ecosystems, our water and food supplies, our energy, our infrastructure, human health, human safety, now, today.
And climate change is a trend that affects all trends -- economic trends, security trends, everything will be impacted. And it becomes more dramatic with each passing year.
ASHER (voice-over): Now President Obama is also making another bold move. He's renaming Mt. McKinley, which is the tallest mountain in the United States. It's named after the 25th U.S. president, William McKinley, who's an Ohio native.
Ohio lawmakers are not happy about the name change but Mr. Obama says he'll use executive authority to rename the mountain to its historic Native American title, Denali. Now of course Donald Trump, as usual, did weigh in. He tweeted that if he's elected president, he will change it back.
VAUSE: Barack Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Alaskan Arctic, a region where climate change is being felt more intensely than anywhere else in the world because it's warming at almost twice the global average.
But Alaska is also heavily dependent on oil revenue, an acute example of the challenges facing the United States and the rest of the world: how to move away from fossil fuels while minimizing the economic impact.
Victoria Herrmann is the U.S. director of The Arctic Institute and joins us now from Anchorage.
Victoria, thank you for being with us. You heard that speech by President Obama, what didn't he say that you think he should have?
VICTORIA HERRMANN, U.S. DIRECTOR, THE ARCTIC INSTITUTE: I think one of the things that he didn't address is the role of oil in Alaska and generally non-renewables. He talked about the future and needing to --
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HERRMANN: -- act on climate change.
But the reality is that non-renewable resources and particularly oil in Alaska are going to play a role in the immediate steps in between today and a renewable future. And he didn't really speak to what role oil would play in the decade to come.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, the president did just sign off about two weeks ago on those leases for Shell to continue to drill for oil off the Alaskan Arctic Coast. But many argue you can't really be serious about addressing the effects of climate change while allowing offshore drilling to continue.
HERRMANN: Exactly. And I think what that debate is really missing is what you can do with oil being drilled in Alaska and generally in the Arctic. A lot of these permits have been established from the past five years and there isn't really much that President Obama could have done to say no to them starting exploratory drilling this summer.
What he could have done was create more stringent environmental regulations on them and ensure that whatever investments come from their revenue generated would be put into renewable resources.
VAUSE: Do you think most Americans are simply unaware of the effect of climate change in Alaska?
It's one of those problems that people can't relate to until they're impacted in a major way.
HERRMANN: Exactly. I think people in the lower 48 really see climate change as something that will affect them in the future and don't realize that it's having an immediate impact today, especially here in Alaska.
There are entire towns that need to be relocated because of climate change. And, hopefully, President Obama's three-day tour of the state, when he goes to those communities, will kind of raise awareness in the lower 48 that climate change isn't a problem for tomorrow. It's a problem for today.
VAUSE: The president will be there for three days, as you say. He'll make a lot of news. There will be a lot of photo opportunities. But then it's often the case that the conversation just simply fades away.
HERRMANN: Yes but a lot of the rhetoric that was used today and hopefully will continue to be used over the next three days is the connection from what we're seeing in Alaska to the climate negotiations in Paris later this year.
And the connection between those two will hopefully continue the conversation that the victims are on the front lines of climate change today, that President Obama will visit throughout the next three days, should also be at those climate negotiations in Paris as a reminder about the immediacy and the need for a solution.
VAUSE: Victoria Herrmann, the U.S. director of The Arctic Institute. Thank you for being with us.
HERRMANN: Thank you so much for having me.
VAUSE: And these issues will be the focus of CNN's climate change coverage for our Two Degrees initiative. We'll report on the effects of global warming and possible solutions.
Leading up to that summit in Paris -- it happens this December. Learn more at our website, cnn.com/twodegrees.
ASHER: And we take you to the Middle East now and confirmation that the most important temple in Syria has been completely destroyed by ISIS.
I want to show you these images.
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ASHER (voice-over): This is the before image, right? This is the satellite image of the temple of Bel. This is from last Thursday. Now initially, there were fears that the site was damaged, not destroyed, by a recent bombing. But now the U.N. says that is simply not the case and that this image, this is the after image, this shows you what is left of the historic site.
Now a short time ago, an art professor explained the temple's significance.
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ERIN THOMPSON, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: Because it's one of the best- preserved temples of the ancient world. It was dedicated in A.D. 32 when Jesus may have still been walking the Earth. It was used as a Christian church after antiquity and then as a mosque until the 1920s.
So it's really an example of the type of synchronism of religion that ISIS is seeking to destroy.
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ASHER: Last week ISIS also published photos of militants destroying another historic structure and that is the temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra.
VAUSE: OK. A short break here. But when we come back, trainloads of migrants have arrived in Austria and Germany from Hungary. We'll have more on political divisions across Europe as they struggle to find some kind of solution to this crisis.
ASHER: Also ahead, a vote on part of a peace deal leads to violence and clashes in Ukraine, just ahead.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day to you, meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. This is CNN Weather Watch and we're watching the Americas to start off your weather and we're also watching the Four Corners states for some thunderstorms to pop up. There's a big change still in place across the northwestern corner of the U.S. with cooler weather, some snow showers in the higher elevations as well. Look at the color contours, some of the greenest and bluest shades we've seen in months across this region.
And this looks to stay for the next week or so with the hottest areas displaced off to the east, places like Minneapolis, back up to the upper 20s and around 30 degrees after being into the teens just about a week ago. Chicago a toasty 32 degrees, warmer than Atlanta, say, work your way toward New York City, also dealing with some summer-like temperatures in September across that region.
Of course, summer-like weather pattern near the Hawaiian Islands. We have Ignacio pushing just north of the islands; Jimena back behind it, a menacing category 4 hurricane sitting behind this feature. And both of them kind of skirting off to the north.
And we know this is certainly going to pick up the surf around this region, bring in some showers. But beyond that, it looks like it is going to stay well away from the islands in general.
How about thunderstorm city around much of the Central America there, from Belize, work your way towards Guatemala City, about 32-26 degrees. Dry spot, it will be windy in Kingston. We'll take 34 degrees for your high temperature, some of the active weather again down around Panama as we expect this time of year, scattered showers in the forecast.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We go now to Europe's migrant crisis.
After days of waiting in makeshift shelters at a train station in Hungary, hundreds of migrants and refugees have made it to Austria and into Germany.
ASHER: And in a sudden change of policy on Monday, authorities let Syrian and Iraqi refugees buy tickets and board trains headed west from Hungary. Now some migrants were delayed for several hours at the Austrian border but dozens more are still in Budapest waiting to leave.
VAUSE: Germany is the favored destination for many migrants making their way across Europe. The country has already pledged to take in thousands of asylum seekers.
ASHER: Our Fred Pleitgen spoke with some refugees who managed to make it to Munich.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After a long and very difficult journey through much of Europe, many of the refugees are now making it to here, this is Munich's Central Station. And Germany is, of course, one of the main places that many of the refugees who've been going across Europe want to go.
Now most of them have endured a very, very difficult travel, going first through Turkey, then through Greece, Macedonia. Many of them had a very difficult time in Hungary. And then of course a lot of them were stopped on trains in Austria for a very long time but now some of them are coming here to Germany and are talking about some of the things that they've endured along the way. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I passed in Turkey and in Greece. And in Macedonia. Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, then here. It's cost us about 2,000 euros or up to 3,000.
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PLEITGEN: For many of the people coming here, it's been quite confusing as to what exactly the regulations are here in the European Union. Many had to be in Hungary for a very long time. They thought they had to apply for asylum in Hungary. Some of them didn't.
They then went on to Austria, some were pulled off trains in Austria and then were taken to refugee shelters there.
Now the ones that are coming here to Germany to Munich, when they arrived here, are being checked by police officers that are here at the train station and then many of them will be taken to shelter and hopefully to safety -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Munich, Germany.
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VAUSE: At the center of this migrant crisis is an international agreement called the Dublin regulation. Anyone seeking asylum must apply in the E.U. country where they first arrive and remain there until their status is approved.
ASHER: And that regulation is a bit of a challenge for countries like Italy and Greece, which are struggle with a huge backlog of migrants arriving by sea. Italy's foreign minister tells CNN the Dublin regulation is out of date.
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PAOLO GENTILONI, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The so-called Dublin regulation was made 25 years ago. And the situation was quite different. Now we have a huge phenomenon of migration. And we will have this phenomenon for the next 10 to 20 years.
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VAUSE: The migrant crisis is so unprecedented leaders in the European Union are struggling to find some common ground to solve it. Atika Shubert now looks at the divisions.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the walls go up to keep migrants out, so, too, political divisions are mounting across the European Union. Hungary's decision to erect razor wire fencing along its Serbian condemned by France.
LAURENT FABIUS, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Hungary is part of Europe which has values. And we do not respect those values by putting up fences that we wouldn't even use for animals.
SHUBERT (voice-over): The Hungarian government has defended the fortifications, saying as a member state it has an obligation to protect what is effectively the European border, fences doing little to stop migrants from taking ever-desperate measures to reach that sanctuary.
JOEL MILLMAN, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION: Our view on the wall building is that this is a roundabout subsidy to the smugglers, that if you create a barrier, they'll just charge the people they're transporting more money to get around that barrier.
SHUBERT (voice-over): To that end, Austria has now introduced new security checks along its borders, after 71 dead migrants were discovered in a lorry late last week.
HELMUT MARBAN, POLICE: These smugglers used different forms of transportation. We had here a case in Nickelsdorf where a smuggler used a normal way in, usually transporting seven persons. But there were 12 persons in it, including three little children.
SHUBERT (voice-over): An unprecedented number of migrants continue to reach E.U. borders. Germany alone expects to receive four times as many asylum seekers this year, which has led to violent protests.
Angela Merkel has called for tolerance as more migrants are expected to arrive.
ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): That will be a central challenge, not only for days or months but for a long period of time. And that's why it's important that while we are saying that German efficiency is great, what we need now is German flexibility.
SHUBERT (voice-over): The French prime minister also made a show of tackling the crisis on Monday, announcing a new migrant camp and calling for a E.U.-wide migrant policy, the unified stance that leaders are under increasing pressure to find when they meet for emergency talks on September 14th -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.
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ASHER: Deadly violence flared in Kiev, Ukraine, on Monday as Ukrainian nationalists clashed with riot police.
VAUSE: The clashes erupted outside parliament after lawmakers voted to give greater autonomy to Russian-held regions in the east of the country. Jim Sciutto reports on the protests and new moves by the U.S. to bolster its forces in the region.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Violence on the streets of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, now turning deadly. A grenade thrown from the crowd killing one soldier, injuring several others.
These street battles pit Ukrainian nationalists against the Ukrainian parliament, who just approved giving greater autonomy to the eastern regions of the country now controlled by Russian troops and pro- Russian separatists. Ukraine's Western-backed president scolded protesters for attacking Ukraine over Russia.
PETRO POROSHENKO, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is very sad that some members of the parliamentary coalition attacked --
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POROSHENKO (through translator): -- the president and the supreme commander in chief of their own country instead of directing their burgeoning energy to counter the external enemy.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Russia has strengthened its hold on the east and the war has raged on, with more than 6,000 killed since April last year, two cease-fire agreements in tatters.
MARK TONER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We call on all Ukrainians, no matter their affiliation or organization, to respect law and order.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): NATO allies worry they could be Russia's next target. The U.S. military is bolstering its forces in the region, sending predator drones to Latvia over the weekend and F-22s to Germany late last week, all part of an effort to reassure allies that the U.S. will deter further aggression by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems that's the direction he wants to take them, towards one of more confrontation and we're simply going to have to check that.
SCIUTTO: The deployment of those drones to Latvia is a temporary rotation, similar to other U.S. military moves in the region, this part of an effort to balance a show of force against avoiding further antagonizing Russia. The next stop for those F-22 Raptors from Germany is Poland, another nervous Eastern European and NATO ally -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN NEWSROOM, what could be the next point of contention between Russia and the West. We'll look at Moscow's ambitions in the Arctic.
ASHER: And returning to normal in one South Korean village. Life along the DMZ, just ahead.
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ASHER: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Zain Asher.
VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. Let's check the headlines this hour.
Hundreds of migrants and refugees have arrived in Austria and Germany after days of waiting at a Hungarian train station. Syrian and Iraqi refugees were allowed to buy tickets and board trains on Monday. Many more migrants are still in Budapest waiting to leave.
ASHER: New satellite photos show one of Syria's most important ancient structures completely destroyed by ISIS. The temple of Bel was the center of religious life in Palmyra for more than 2,000 years. Now it's the latest piece of history demolished by the militants who routinely destroy pre-Islamic antiquities.
VAUSE: Negotiators say they cannot say with certainty if the airplane debris found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean actually came from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The company which made the part of the flaperon checked its records but couldn't find anything. Friday, officials have said MH370 is the world's only missing Boeing 777 and that part is actually from a 777 aircraft.
ASHER: The U.S. State Department has released another batch of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. A government official says more than 100 of the 7,000 messages had information that was later classified. The Democratic presidential candidate has faced months of criticism for using her personal e-mail and server during her time as secretary of state.
VAUSE: And global affairs correspondent Elise Labott joins us now from Washington to walk us through so many issues surrounding these emails.
And, Elise, one of the questions I have is when it comes to the issue of what is classified, what is not classified. The State Department on Monday went to great lengths to point out that for information to be classified, it's not black and white, it's not an exact science. That seems a little strange to me.
So explain, how does this actually work? Most people would think it's either classified or it's not. And how can you make something retroactively classified?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, at the time it was sent, John, it wasn't marked classified, it wasn't identified classified. But don't forget, these release of these e-mails are part of what we call a FOIA, Freedom of Information Act, which was a lawsuit that was brought against the State Department to make them public.
So, while the information wasn't classified at the time and it wasn't needed to be in a classified system, we understand the vast majority of them have been retroactively classified because they need to be released to the public. And so there's information that needs to be redacted in there.
So we understand the vast majority of them are the lowest level of classification but, still, it's sensitive material that was being discussed and that's why the State Department and other agencies now are classifying some of that information.
VAUSE: And does this explain why Secretary Clinton has sort of changed her wording on this? Back in March, she said there was no classified information in her e-mails, now she's saying nothing was marked classified.
LABOTT: Well, she's saying nothing was marked classified, it wasn't identified as classified at the time. So she argues that she didn't know she was talking about classified material. And she's saying it wasn't classified at the time.
Now, actually, it is classified, because it's been marked as such and identified as such. So this is really a gray area.
And certainly, this stuff was sensitive. We're talking about some e- mail that had information about sources and methods or information about movement of U.S. personnel. And so, it's sensitive material.
But the question is, did it need to be put on a classified system?
And the State Department is arguing no. And that's what Secretary Clinton is arguing.
VAUSE: Elise Labott in Washington, thanks for walking us through some of those explanations. We appreciate it.
LABOTT: Anytime.
ASHER: U.S. President Barack Obama is making an urgent call to all nations to do something now about climate change. The president spoke Monday night during an international conference on climate change in Anchorage, Alaska, and he had some harsh words for those who are not taking it seriously enough.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is wonderful to be...
Any so-called leader who does not take this seriously or treats it like a joke is not fit to lead. On this issue of all issues, there is such a thing as being too late. That moment is almost upon us. That's why we're here today.
It will not be easy. There are hard questions to answer. I am not trying to suggest that there are not going to be difficult transitions that we all have to make. But, if we unite our highest aspirations, if we make our best efforts to protect this planet for future generations --
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OBAMA: -- we can solve this problem.
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VAUSE: President Obama there, just a little earlier delivering what is considered a message of hope and fear.
ASHER: Right.
VAUSE: And, as the planet warms, it is opening greater access to the Arctic and its vast undersea resources, which most likely explosions the increased Russian military presence in the region as Moscow looks to claim oil and natural gas reserves and also to secure new shipping routes.
ASHER: And as Matthew chance reports, conflicts over sovereignty and territorial claims could be on the horizon.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On state-controlled television, Russia projecting its power into the Arctic. In recent months, the Kremlin has staged some of its biggest- ever military exercises in the region, deploying a newly created Arctic brigade, raising concerns this could be the next frigid flash point in its standoff with the West.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Russian).
CHANCE (voice-over): Few know the Kremlin's ambitions better than Artur Chilingarov, Russia's top Arctic explorer and President Putin's special adviser on Arctic affairs.
ARTUR CHILINGAROV, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER ON ARCTIC AFFAIRS (through translator): It's our home. The Arctic is Russia's home. Lots of our regions are up there. We are the Arctic country. We're in favor of international cooperation but, of course, we care about Russia's security too.
CHANCE (voice-over): Security and resources, along with the other northern countries with Arctic territories, including the United States. Russia is acutely aware of the vast potential beneath the melting ice. Up to a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas but also the lucrative new trade routes opening up as the polar icecap recedes.
It was Chilingarov who led a Russian expedition to the Arctic seabed in 2007 to stake the country's claim to a vast swathe (sic) of polar territory. In recent weeks, Russia has resubmitted to the U.N. its claim of sovereignty. the issue has struck a nationalist chord among many Russians.
CHANCE: How far will Russia go to enforce its claim over the Arctic? We've seen increased militarization, some former Soviet bases have been opened up. There have been big military maneuvers in the Arctic region.
Is this a region where you see the potential for conflict in the future? CHILINGAROV (through translator): No. No. No. There shouldn't be
any conflicts in the Arctic. There's a mutual understanding in the international community that is developing fast and I believe will develop even further.
CHANCE (voice-over): But protection of its Arctic interests is emerging as a major Kremlin theme, one which could easily draw Russia and its Arctic neighbors into conflict -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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ASHER: And we have some unusual weather in the tropics, with multiple hurricanes, including you've got Hurricane Fred, going across the Cape Verde Islands.
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VAUSE: Pedram Javaheri joins us with all of this.
So we've got all this unusual weather, we've got this record rainfall and record droughts. Again, we come back to the idea that maybe something's changing with the climate.
JAVAHERI: We were just talking about their during this last story, right? Just looking in the past 15 years, we have 14 of the hottest years on record. So we have the numbers on that, 14 of the hottest years on record --
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VAUSE: -- I don't know what that means.
JAVAHERI: This trend, of course, has continued and now we're seeing some of the impacts; we know some of it has to do with the pretty potent El Nino that's in the works right now. So maybe not all of it is related to climate change but a lot of it certainly could be attributed to it as well.
So we'll break down what we're seeing happen in the last couple of months. And take a look at this. This is the global temperature so far into 2015. And the areas in red show you near record temperatures. The areas in blue show near record cold temperatures. You have a few of those over the open waters, a few scattered about the U.S., parts of Canada. Notice areas well into Russia, Scandinavia as well, getting the cool territory.
But beyond that, the vast majority of our planet, no matter where you're watching from, would be in that territory of above average temperatures, near record temperatures. In fact, the hottest January through July in recorded history is what we've just observed.
Five of the past seven months have set the records in 2005. And the strengthening El Nino pattern, which could attribute to what you're seeing here, a historic trio of hurricanes at one point receiving all major hurricane status -- we've never seen that before -- occurring in the past 24-48 hours. So what impressive with this, 15 storms now in category 4 or category 5 so far in the Northern Hemisphere, all of them, by the way, in the Pacific Ocean. That is by far ahead of the pace of the previous record, which was about 9 in 2012, when you're talking about this point of the season.
Hurricane Jimena, we have one exit in the picture, Jimena back behind it as a category 4. The good news with these storm systems -- and again, when you take a look at activity in the tropical realm --
[00:40:00]
JAVAHERI: -- across the Pacific Ocean, at least, when you think about tropical activity, typically, El Nino has a lot to do with it. We have the winds that are weakened in parts of this region, the warmer temperatures, the rise in the ocean there, when it comes to rising air leads to convective thunderstorms.
So that could be attributed to El Nino but look at what's happening with Hurricane Fred. Almost every single hurricane we see across the Atlantic impacting the United States forms out of a tropical wave from the African continent. They exit the picture off the areas where the winds converge across portions of the equatorial region.
But Hurricane Fred is the first hurricane since 1892 that formed immediately after coming off of the African coastline, again, the Cape Verde Islands with that hurricane warning that was in place, the storm has now downgraded a little bit and it's going to be a fish storm. So it's not going to impact anyone after what it has done when it comes to pushing through parts of the Cape Verde Islands.
But when you're having a weather -- in my case, a weather segment every single day and almost every single day there's something that I can say that we've never seen this since 120 years ago in recorded history, the theme becomes a little obvious for some people and of course the numbers --
(CROSSTALK)
ASHER: -- getting more and more frequent, is that what you're noticing?
JAVAHERI: That's what I'm noticing. Yes, absolutely.
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
JAVAHERI: Good job security.
ASHER: You've always got a job, Pedram.
VAUSE: Thanks, Pedram.
JAVAHERI: OK. ASHER: OK. Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, they faced the threat of war just days ago. Up next, a look at life for villagers on the edge of the world's most militarized border.
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ASHER: Welcome back, everyone. We want to go to Asia now, where we're getting some new and pretty discouraging data on China's economy. We're hearing that China's purchasing managers index or so- called PMI fell to 49.7 in August. It was 50 in July.
VAUSE: A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in economic activity; below 50, a pullback. The slowdown was not unexpected; China has been struggling with cooling demand and factory overcapacity. Let's see how this is playing out.
[00:45:00]
VAUSE: On the stock markets around the region, we can see the Nikkei today down nearly again by 2.25 percent, Hong Kong also down in negative territory by almost half of 1 percent.
Shanghai Composite down by just over 1 percent. That's a pretty good result of late. And in Australia, the ASX 200 down by 1.3 percent.
ASHER: OK. Staying in Asia, now police in Thailand are giving themselves an $83,000 reward for a recent arrest linked to the bombing at a Bangkok shrine earlier this month.
VAUSE: The Thai police chief on Monday placed three sets of cash on the podium and said detectives made the arrest over the weekend, not based on any outside tips, solely on their own work. So there they go. They get the money. Police say the man in custody, though, is not the main suspect in the bombing.
ASHER: Life is returning to normal in South Korea along the DMZ. It's been about a week since the North and South pulled back from a military standoff that threatened to escalate into something more.
VAUSE: Yes. For the residents of a tiny village on the edge of the militarized border, it's all part of living with an ever-present threat. Kyung Lah has the story of one couple.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the very end of South Korea sits Jung Myeon village, a Chinese farm town on the edge of the world's most heavily militarized border.
North Korea is only a few miles away, its threat of war becoming an act of war. A North Korean artillery shell launched across the DMZ last week landed so close to this village the government ordered the 210 residents into two underground bunkers.
South Korea's military, usually hidden in their hills, readied for attack, two Koreas at the brink of battle.
Days later, a temporary truce in place between the Koreas, Park Chum- Se and wife, Kim Shin-je, returned to life at their store. It's a hard life. Their shelves don't need to be stocked because no one's buying. The young, tired of life here, left.
"I hear boom, boom, all the time," she says. "You become immune to it."
LAH: You don't think North Korea will hurt you?
"This last time was different," she explains. "We've done evacuation drills again and again. But this is the first time we've actually had to evacuate."
This bomb shelter has a giant blast door. It is solid steel. You can see how thick it is. We're a couple dozen feet underground. And it's solid concrete right above us.
The government says that this could withstand a direct hit from most North Korean artillery; 100 people can fit in here. And the last time this town evacuated, they were in here for five days.
"I heard the North Korean gunfire that day," says Park Yong-Ho. He led his town's evacuation.
Why stay here? Why stay in this town?
"I'm not anxious and I've never thought of leaving," he says calmly. "I'm determined to protect my town."
"People in Seoul ask me, how do you live here? If they're going to hit anything, it's going to be Seoul."
"If there really is another Korean War," she says, "we'll all die."
Seoul sits within North Korea's artillery range as well. They just ignore how close that threat is. This border town can't -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Jung Myeon, South Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, hail to the chief, Kanye West. The rapper says he's running for president in 2020.
ASHER: He may stand a chance, who knows.
VAUSE: Sure, he doesn't stand a hope.
How does he stack up against the current candidate, Donald Trump?
Oh, god. That's next.
ASHER: Pretty first lady, though.
VAUSE: You think?
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines.
With the transfer window slamming shut in England on Tuesday, Manchester United will pounce for David de Gea (ph). It's looks like the davits (ph) ahead to Real and its saga (ph) appears to be finally over. Both clubs getting closer to a deal that could see an ivy (ph) getting $44 million for the keeper in addition to the fee.
United get Costa Rican international Keylor Navas, former druid (ph) as well. United also poised to flash a cash (ph) on Monaco's Anthony Martial, who at 19, would become the most expensive teenager ever in football when his move from Monaco is confirmed for a reported $55 million.
It only took a matter of hours for there to be a couple of high- profile players crashing out of the U.S. Open on day one at Flushing Meadows in New York City on the women's side of the draw, former World number 1 Ana Ivanovic an early casualty, going down in three sets to the Slovakian Domenica Cibulkova. The Serbian player was seeded 7th at this event.
Ana's a bit sharp on the men's side of things, too, with last year's finest, Kei Nishikori, falling at the very first hurdle. Then Nishikori well and truly stunned on Monday by the French man Benoit Paire. Nishikori, the number 4 seed, losing in 5 to the number 41 ranked pair who, at one point, actually saved two match points before going on to taste victory, a famous win indeed.
You're bang up to date. That's a little bit of your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines. I'm Patrick Snell.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. A U.S. court will have the final say if New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be on the field when the NFL season starts next week.
ASHER: Brady was suspended four games for his alleged role in the so- called Deflategate scandal. His team was accused of using underinflated balls to get a competitive edge in the ASC Championship win in January.
Now Brady insists that he's innocent; he tried to appeal the suspension to league officials but those talks broke down. Now, a federal judge says he'll make a ruling in the next couple of days. VAUSE: Tom Brady made a brief appearance in court on Monday. But online, the buzz is about the courtroom sketches. Some told Brady apparently is a pretty good-looking guy. But this is how artist Jane Rosenberg (ph) drew him on Monday.
ASHER: Well, it is certainly a far cry from her earlier sketches last month, seen here on the right. A lot of people complained about fans were not happy, where was his jaw? Was he deflating? But this time fans say Rosenberg's (ph) got it right.
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) like on the right.
OK. One of the most interesting moments from Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards may have been Kanye West's political announcement.
ASHER: Yes. Kanye West says he is going to run for President of the United States in 2020. And that got our Jeanne Moos asking, how well would he do debating Donald Trump?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the words rolled off his tongue --
KANYE WEST, ENTERTAINER: I have decided in 20...
MOOS (voice-over): -- eyes rolled.
WEST: -- to run for president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So does that mean Kim Kardashian would be the first lady?
MOOS (voice-over): No ifs, ands but plenty of but about it. In no time you could buy the shirt, wear the speech, ponder Kanye West on Mt. Rushmore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gives a whole new meaning to the West Wing.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS (voice-over): The Kardashian clan chimed in on social media with Kourtney suggesting a "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" White House edition.
Some proposed possible running mates.
As for who the rapper could run against, the dream matchup has Kanye crowned with Trump-like hair.
MOOS: Without any further ado, may we present the imaginary Donald versus Kanye debate?
The Clash of the Narcissists.
(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: Politicians are all talk, no action.
WEST: I'm not no politician, bro.
[00:55:00]
TRUMP: I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.
WEST: I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh.
TRUMP: I don't care. I'm really rich.
WEST: (INAUDIBLE), bro.
TRUMP: Sit down. Sit down.
WEST: I will die for the art.
TRUMP: No, no, no, you're finished.
WEST: (INAUDIBLE), bro.
(APPLAUSE)
MOOS (voice-over): There's no question, Kanye took the high road.
WEST: Did he smoke something before he came out here?
The answer is yes. I rolled up a little something. I knocked the edge off.
TRUMP: Now all of a sudden they're saying it's having tremendously damaging effects to the mind, to the brain.
WEST: Because it ain't about me. It's about ideas, bro.
TRUMP: Because this is about you. It's not about me.
MOOS (voice-over): Trump may not be able to compete as a rapper. But he knows when to cut the music.
Just don't expect Kanye to be addressing my fellow Americans.
WEST: Bro.
Bro.
And bro.
Bro?
I don't understand it, bro.
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN --
TRUMP: Sit down.
MOOS (voice-over): -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Always nice to have a president with a healthy dose of self- confidence.
VAUSE: Right, absolutely.
ASHER: No insecurities whatsoever.
VAUSE: None whatsoever.
ASHER: OK. Thank you so much for watching, everyone. I'm Zain Asher.
VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. The second hour of CNN NEWSROOM will be right back after a short break.
