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Turkey Shoots Down Unidentified Drone; Egyptians Head to the Polls Sunday; Lingering Health Problems after Ebola; Lamar Odom Has Damage to Vital Organs; Trump and Jeb Bush Trade Barbs over 9/11; Hillary Clinton Credits Husband for Some Debate Prep; Presidential Candidates Hit the Dance Floor on "Ellen"; Win the Chance to Sleep in the Paris Catacombs. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 17, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. Here's an update now on the top stories we are following this hour.
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STEVENS (voice-over): Israeli officials say a border police officer shot and killed a Palestinian man in Jerusalem during an attempted stabbing. In an earlier incident, the Israeli defense forces say a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli man, who shot and killed him.
The first migrants have reached the Slovenian border after Hungary sealed its border with Croatia, that's according to Reuters. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants have streamed through Europe over the past few months.
The fugitive drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, better known as "El Chapo," has avoided recapture but hurt himself in the process. Mexican officials say Guzman injured himself during a failed operation to rearrest him. They say he suffered injuries to his face and leg but not from a direct confrontation.
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STEVENS: Let's get back now to the conflict in Syria. Russia's military says it conducted close to 400 airstrikes targeting ISIS within the last week.
Meanwhile, Syria has launched a new offensive against rebels near Aleppo province.
Let's get to the latest now. We can turn to Jill Dougherty. She's former chief of our Moscow bureau and now with the International Center for Defense and Security. She joins us now live from Moscow.
Jill, first of all, there's been a lot of suspicion about these Russian claims that it's attacking ISIS positions. Many American sources say it's not just ISIS; it's other rebels who are fighting against the Assad regime. What do we actually know?
JILL DOUGHERTY, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: Well, we do know that the Russians this morning kind of fine-tuned what they were saying. They said that they were hitting terrorist sites and they specifically said that they are now targeting Syrian Free Army sites.
Now Syrian Free Army, of course, is part of the opposition. They are a group that the United States believes could be part of the ultimate -- ultimately part of the solution politically in Syria.
So I thought that it was interesting, but again, in a broad picture, the United States continues to say and the coalition say that Russia is targeting basically everybody who is trying to rise up against or fight the Syrian army.
And the Russians say that, no, it's only terrorist organizations and also ISIL.
STEVENS: And there have been sort of rising tensions between Russia and Turkey. The latest is that the Turkish air force shot down a drone. We don't know where it's from. Some people in the U.S. say it is a Russian drone; the Russians say we haven't lost any.
But certainly it's not the first instance where there has been tensions between what appears to be Russian aircraft over a very, very sensitive area.
Is the Russians or are the Russians deliberately sort of antagonizing Turkey here?
DOUGHERTY: Well, it's hard to say. There's Turkey -- and then there's Turkey is part of NATO. So every time you think of Turkey, I think it's useful to broaden that to NATO.
But that said, the Russians, that incursion about a week ago of the Russian plane that went into Turkish airspace and then came out again, the Russians apologized for that. Now the coalition didn't really take that as an apology. They seemed to think that it was on purpose.
And now you have this drone. Whether that was on purpose or not, it's not clear. And also the Russians continue to insist that it wasn't their drone, that all of their drones and airplanes came back safely.
So what you do have here is certainly the Russian military moving very forcefully, the air force moving very forcefully, moving into areas that it basically wants to move into and many people saying that this could be dangerous. Therefore, that's why it's significant that the United States, as part of that coalition, and Russia have just come to an agreement.
And we're expecting that that would be announced and signed very shortly, which is between the Pentagon and the defense ministry for safety in the skies, flight safety.
But, Andrew, you know, there's a bigger -- and maybe we can talk about that. There's a bigger political part of this. For instance the --
[04:35:00]
DOUGHERTY: -- Russia's deputy defense minister said today, good, it's a good document. Glad that it's happening. But we want to broaden it. And eventually the United States and NATO will understand that they should join in a coalition to fight terrorism generally.
And the United States says, no, we are not going to cooperate with you on that broader fight because you are doing the wrong thing, which is you are supporting Assad. And the United States, of course, wants Assad gone.
STEVENS: OK. All right. Jill, thank you very much for that. Jill Dougherty from the International Center of Security and Defense from Moscow.
Now Egyptians head to the polls on Sunday and Monday for the first phase of parliamentary elections. It will be the eighth time that Egyptians will take to the polls in just four years and there is concern that voter fatigue will keep participation rates low. CNN's Ian Lee has the details.
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IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Campaign volunteers try to wake Egypt's sleepy electorate. They sprint to the finish as polls for parliament opens Sunday. Ahmed Mansour (ph) entices voters with posters, music, handouts and horns. But for some, it's all noise.
"Yes, of course, I'm worried about the turnout," he says. "But if we have a desire for change, we actually have to change."
Mansour (ph) pledges more jobs, better health care and education. But like the more than 5,000 candidates, he struggles to energize a fatigued nation.
HISAM KASSEM, PUBLISHER AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Almost five years now after the uprising generally, the disappointment has sunk in finally. The expectations are very high and not much came out.
LEE (voice-over): This election is the final step in a roadmap after the military ousted President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Despite many promises over the past five years, Egypt continues to struggle with a stalled economy, poor education, high unemployment and poverty.
LEE: Since the 2011 revolution, Egyptians have voted for two constitutions, two presidents and now two parliaments. But all the while, voter turnout has continued to decline.
LEE (voice-over): Officials are afraid that voters are disillusioned and the trend will continue. Part of the reason may be they only gave the candidates two weeks to introduce themselves to the public.
"Honestly, I only knew there was an election a week ago," he says.
"I don't know the candidates."
"Honestly, no. I don't know any candidates," says this man.
"On what basis would I vote for anyone?"
Moki al-Sisi (ph) introduces himself by shaking every man's hand at a rally. The candidate for the ultra conservative Nour Party (ph) hopes to rally its rural base.
But even in predominantly Muslim Egypt, the party knows it's going to be a struggle.
"The challenge for us," says the head of the Nour Party, "is going to be convincing people to cast their ballot at the polling station for us."
But the fatigue and confusion about who is running could have an unintentional benefit.
KASSEM: Probably the most important thing about this election is it can't be rigged. Nobody would know who to rig it in favor of if they thought of rigging because there are no clear loyalties or coalitions.
LEE (voice-over): Egypt will have a new parliament by the end of the year. The second round of voting is next month. But will anyone know their representative -- or care? Ian Lee, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: A nurse suffers a frightening relapse months after she thought she'd recovered from Ebola. Coming up, the latest on what scientists are still learning about the deadly virus.
And we're also getting word that Lamar Odom is conscious and speaking. More on the condition of the former pro basketball player when CNN NEWSROOM comes back.
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[04:40:00]
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STEVENS: Welcome back.
Nine months after recovering from Ebola, a nurse is back in a London hospital suffering from a rare relapse.
Pauline Cafferkey is said to be critically ill. She was the first person diagnosed with the virus in the U.K. The relapse has confounded medical experts. But a new study from the World Health Organization indicates that the virus is much more persistent than previously believed.
Earlier we spoke to Dr. Ian Crozier, an Ebola survivor himself, about what scientists are still learning about the virus.
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DR. IAN CROZIER, EBOLA SURVIVOR: I think there are a number of people now interested in both providing care and that care and evaluation is urgent. It's been called an emergency within the emergency, particularly in regards to the eye disease that we're seeing emerging in survivors.
So our Emery eye team and a number of other partners are looking very seriously and urgently at the disease that is emerging in survivors and I think we have a great need to sort of make sure that what happened at the bedsides of a few med-evacuated survivors -- and I'm one of them -- can be really quickly and nimbly and in an agile manner be translated to bedsides in West Africa.
And I'm, of course, with a number of my own clinicians, very interested in that occurring well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: Now Dr. Crozier was diagnosed with Ebola after treating patients in Sierra Leone. He was declared free of the virus last year and then, two months later, doctors found traces of Ebola in his eye.
It is a frightening reality for Ebola sufferers. Even surviving the worst part of the virus doesn't necessarily mean that they'll ever be cured. Most who have been infected are left with awful symptoms. The most common include memory loss and forgetfulness.
Some more obvious symptoms vary from hair loss and vision problems to fatigue. The virus gradually weakens survivors, of whom there are some 17,000.
The former pro basketball player, Lamar Odom, has reportedly emerged from a coma. But his mother-in-law, the reality TV star, Kris Jenner, told "Access Hollywood" he has serious injuries to his vital organs. He's been at a Las Vegas hospital since Tuesday after he was found unresponsive at a brothel.
CNN's Paul Vercammen has more on Odom's condition.
[04:45:00]
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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sign of hope for Lamar Odom, a source telling CNN the former NBA and reality TV star is conscious and was able to say hi to his estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, the same source adding his condition remains guarded here at Sunrise Hospital in the intensive care unit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to hurry please because he's got blood coming out of his nose, white stuff coming out of his mouth.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Paramedics rushed the 35-year old here after he was found unresponsive at a Nevada brothel called the Love Ranch on Tuesday afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody just came up to me and said that he apparently had some cocaine on him, that did this on Saturday.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Employees told police Odom used cocaine on Saturday and may have taken up to 10 herbal supplement pills used for sexual performance enhancement over several days. Love Ranch employees also say Odom spent thousands of dollars on women and a VIP luxury suite.
DENNIS HOF, LOVE RANCH OWNER: He spent $75,000. And that was his number, what he wanted is two girls, 24 hours a day, to take care of any of his needs from food, anything in the bedroom.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Odom's struggles played out on national television, the two-time NBA champion frequently appeared on the hit reality show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," after he began dating and later marrying Khloe Kardashian, their courtship and ultimate separation making headlines both on and off the screen.
Now at Sunrise Hospital, his estranged wife Khloe and her family are praying for Odom to recover. Kylie Jenner tweeting a picture of her and Odom with the caption, "Start your morning with a prayer" -- Paul Vercammen, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: U.S. presidential candidates are trading in their soapboxes for the dance floor. Coming up, we'll take a look at the politicians who are swaying more than just voters.
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[04:50:00]
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STEVENS: And now to the U.S. race for president, where Republican candidates Jeb Bush and Donald Trump are trading barbs. The feud began Friday morning when Trump implied the former president, George W. Bush, shared some blame for the 9/11 terror attacks since he was in office at the time.
Well, Jeb Bush tweeted back, quote, "How pathetic for Donald Trump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked and my brother kept us safe."
Well, Hillary Clinton seems to have benefited from her performance at the Democratic debate despite the controversies surrounding her. A "Boston Globe" Suffolk University poll taken after the debate has Clinton back on top in New Hampshire.
That's where the first U.S. presidential primary vote will be held. But her small lead over Bernie Sanders, who'd been leading in the state for months, is within the poll's margin of error.
Clinton gave her first national interview since the debate to CNN's Jake Tapper.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: So congratulations on this new poll number in New Hampshire, showing that you're pulling ahead of Bernie Sanders in a state where you've lagged a little. He's from neighboring Vermont.
The reviews obviously very positive from many pundits. I'm wondering what the pundit-in-chief, your husband, who is in Vegas, I'm wondering what he said to you after the debate.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: He thought I did a really good job. And I think that's the highest praise that I could ever get because there's nobody who -- whose opinion on kinds of these things I respect more. It was great to have him with me.
We had just celebrated our 40th anniversary on Sunday last. So the fact that he could come and keep me company and keep my spirits up and drill me on some of the things he thought were important meant a great deal to me.
TAPPER: As long as you bring it up, 40 years of marriage.
CLINTON: 40 years, Jake, 40 years.
TAPPER: How -- what do you know about him now that you didn't know 40 years ago?
CLINTON: I am so grateful that we have basically had the opportunity to grow in so many different ways. I'm not going to sit here and tell you or your viewers that it's been, you know, a path filled with rose blossoms. It's been challenging.
But overall, looking back at those 40 years, I am so grateful that after he asked me twice I finally said yes and have spent these years with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: And you can hear more of that interview with Hillary Clinton later this weekend. Tune in to "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper for the entire interview. That's on Sunday. It airs at 2:00 pm in London, that's 3:00 pm in Berlin, only on CNN.
Well, there's obviously no way that anyone can dance their way into the White House. But that isn't stopping some of the U.S. presidential candidates from trying. The latest one to hit the dance floor with the American talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres, the normally austere Bernie Sanders. CNN's Jeanne Moos has that and a lot more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First, he loosened up backstage and then 74-year-old Bernie Sanders made his entrance on "Ellen" --
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MOOS (voice-over): -- to the beat of "Disco Inferno."
We don't know if Bernie had a burning, burning desire to dance but he did it in what "New York" magazine has called the requisite "Trial By Dancing," encouraged by Ellen. Barack Obama did it back when he was first running for president.
Michelle Obama has done it.
She's done it not once, not twice, but three times.
Ellen even sells a CD called, "I'm Going to Make You Dance Jams."
She's made CNN's Wolf Blitzer dance.
MOOS: But occasionally there is someone who is able to resist the siren call of Ellen.
MOOS (voice-over): John McCain opted to walk rather than dance onstage. So did Joe Biden; the vice president even whispered in Ellen's ear --
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Can't dance. Don't make me.
MOOS (voice-over): -- and though Hillary Clinton resisted --
[04:55:00]
MOOS (voice-over): -- any impulse to boogie down back in 2007, last month Ellen managed to lure her into learning the "Whip/Nae Nae" during a commercial break.
Politicians are becoming more like the movie stars we expect to dance --
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-- though Ellen had to use a $20,000 check for charity to seduce Matt Damon into the "Whip/Nae Nae"
MATT DAMON, ACTOR: That's all I know.
MOOS (voice-over): When Ellen asked Bernie Sanders what song he would sing to in a karaoke bar, he chose "Staying Alive." Too bad we have no polling data that indicates whether public displays of dancing help a candidacy stay alive.
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MOOS (voice-over): -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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STEVENS: Got to do what you've got to do, I guess.
OK. We'll change the pace as we head toward the end of the show.
If you're looking for something spooky to do this Halloween, how about spending the night in a truly bone-chilling locale?
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STEVENS (voice-over): You could win the chance to stay in the Paris catacombs. Well, it's not exactly a room; it's more like a bed in the middle of the world's biggest grave. The walls are lined with some 6 million skulls. The underground tunnel stretches for literally hundreds of kilometers.
The home rental website, Airbnb, is behind this competition and the lucky winners, if you can call them that, will be the first living people to ever sleep in the graveyard.
But at least you can say your neighbors will be deathly quiet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. Natalie Allen is up after the break with another hour of news from around the world.
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