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Biden Considering Democratic Presidential Bid; Latest Poll Has Trump and Carson Leading; Tensions, Unrest Continue in the Middle East; Russia Releases Drone Footage of Syria Fighting; Inside the Vault Preserving Human Crops; Video Shows Illegal Hong Kong Ivory Traders; Typhoon Brought Record Rains in Philippines; Chicago Cubs Gets Attention from "Back to the Future"; Mexico: Just Missed Capturing El Chapo. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 21, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:12] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, a surprise visit to the Mideast by the head of the United Nations, pleading with Israelis and Palestinians to pull back from the abyss.
Republican Paul Ryan says he's willing to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives but the offer comes with conditions.
And later, wearable tech, video calls, hover boards and flying cars. We'll look at how "Back to the Future" predicted the future 30 long years ago.
Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. begins now.
We begin with U.S. politics and Republican Congressman Paul Ryan reluctantly coming forward to take on the job as speaker of the House of Representatives. He made the announcement a few hours ago but he says there are conditions. He wants support from three key factions within the party. And he says he's not will to give up valuable time with his young family. Ryan says he plans to make his decision within the week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: This is not a job I've ever wanted, I've ever sought. I'm in the job I've always wanted here in Congress. I came to the conclusion that this is a very dire moment not just for Congress, not just for the Republican Party but for our country, and I think our country is in desperate need of leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The current House speaker, John Boehner, is expected to step down at the end of the moment and earlier I asked Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez if Paul Ryan can unite the Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The issue is this fraction between the conservatives and the establishment Republicans.
VAUSE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And can he bridge the gap? He's seen as a national figure. A big leader. He has conditions to accept this position. But I think if anybody can lead this party it's certainly Paul Ryan. He understands the national demographic, cultural, and changing landscape and the politics that are involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Across the aisle Vice President Joe Biden is still stoking speculation he could soon join the race for the White House, but it seems he's already started a campaign of sorts against the current Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Biden spent the day reminding people he's one heartbeat away from the presidency.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The best decision of my political career was to join the president.
ZELENY: Flexing his vice presidential muscles like rarely before, even invoking the killing of Osama bin Laden.
BIDEN: Everybody went around the room and there were only two people who were definitive and were absolutely certain. Leon Panetta said go. And Bob Gates, who's already publicly said this, said, don't go.
ZELENY: Old disagreements from the situation room could flare up in a potential Democratic presidential race.
BIDEN: As we walked out of the room and walked upstairs, I said -- I told him, my opinion, that I thought he should go, but follow his own instincts.
ZELENY: A seeming reversal from the role Biden was thought to have played in opposing the raid.
Also making clear he had the last word with the president, not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who's long said she advised the president to authorize the high-stakes raid.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was one who recommended to the president that he go ahead. And his advisers were split, because it was a very risky operation.
BIDEN: So help me God. ZELENY: Biden didn't stop there. He said he had a hand in every
decision, even choosing Clinton as secretary of state.
BIDEN: The president at the outset said you have veto right on anybody in this cabinet.
ZELENY: For Biden, time is running short. He has nine days to qualify for the ballot in Georgia, followed by deadlines in Alabama and Texas.
Even as new polls show Biden in a distant third and more Democrats say he shouldn't run, his campaign in waiting roars on.
BIDEN: That's the healthy part.
ZELENY: He said again today he doesn't believe Republicans are always the bad guys.
BIDEN: I don't think my chief enemy is the Republican Party. You know, this is a matter of, you know, making things work.
ZELENY: A not-so subtle jab at this moment from last week's Democratic debate when Hillary Clinton was asked to name her enemies.
CLINTON: Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians.
(LAUGHTER)
CLINTON: Probably the Republicans.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joining me now is Bill Carrick, he's a Democratic political strategist.
Bill, thanks for coming in. We know that Joe Biden has to fish or cut bait. The longer this goes on, the more goodwill he loses within the party.
BILL CARRICK, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, I think obviously these deadlines are coming up very quickly. And you know, that's one structural thing he had to deal with. I've always thought he could raise the money online and the donor base that he's cultivated over the years across the country. I don't think money would be a problem.
[01:05:10] But he's got to beat these deadlines. So he doesn't have any choice. He's got to make a decision here really quite quickly. He can't blow off entire states like the size of Texas and Georgia.
VAUSE: And Georgia. Yes.
CARRICK: It's ridiculous. VAUSE: OK. So we've gotten in a situation where it's pretty clear
that part of biden really, really, really wants to run and then there's this conflict where another part of him is kind of maybe reluctant or hesitant. If he can't resolve that conflict soon or maybe because he's taken so long already to resolve this conflict within himself, has his window of opportunity here closed? Has he missed the boat?
CARRICK: I think -- I think if he gets in, if he decides to run --
VAUSE: It's still not too late.
CARRICK: It's not too late. It will be a whole new dynamic. I think these polls will be out the window, we'll have a new batch of polls that will deal with the reality of the vice president of the United States, Barack Obama handpicked the vice president, running, a guy who's very popular in the party, and obviously been the object of the -- you know, of outpouring of national sympathy.
VAUSE: Yes.
CARRICK: So he's really -- he'll be a very big challenge if he runs.
VAUSE: OK. So let's assume he does get into the race, how does he reconcile these two different accounts now of what happened with Osama bin Laden? You know, a couple of years ago he said, I advised the president not to do it. And he came out today and said, hang on, I thought it was a good idea. That's not just his own account of it, that's Hillary Clinton and also the president.
CARRICK: Well, of course he also framed this with saying Leon Panetta, the former CIA director, was gung-ho to go do it and Bob Gates, the former secretary of defense, was equally adamant not to do it, it's too risky, and he framed that as those were the two competing views and everybody else was kind of in between and wasn't quite sure, which is really directly pointed at Hillary Clinton.
VAUSE: OK. Well, the other big news we have right now within the politics, Republican Paul Ryan, he says he'll, you know, put himself forward for speaker of the House for the U.S. Congress. If he does get this job, is he the guy? Is he going to be conservative enough for the ultra Tea Party-Freedom Caucus part of the Republicans who don't seem to be happy with anybody?
CARRICK: Well, high risk, high reward here. The risk is if they can't get Paul Ryan to take this job now, that he said OK, if you people promise to behave and all get behind my leadership, and we'll be one effective Republican Party, I'll do a job I really don't want, or he walks away because they're not willing to accept any discipline whatsoever. It would be a horrible indictment of the Republican Party if Paul Ryan doesn't end being speaker.
VAUSE: OK. Bill, good point. We appreciate you coming in. Thank you.
CARRICK: Thank you. VAUSE: Good to see you.
A new CNN-ORC poll shows two Republican presidential candidates soaring above all of the other rivals. Donald Trump is holding his strong lead followed closely by Ben Carson.
CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash has the latest on the Republican race for the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may be a crowded Republican presidential field, but only two men are firmly on top, Donald Trump and Ben Carson. A combined two-thirds of GOP voters now say Trump and Carson are their first and second choice, according to CNN-ORC's new poll.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've hit a chord. We are both resonating. There's no question about it.
BASH: It's not just that Trump and Carson have support. It's that their supporters are excited about them, which makes them more likely to go out and vote. Thirty percent of Trump supporters are very enthusiastic, 25 percent of Carson's. By contrast, only 3 percent of Jeb Bush voters are enthusiastic about him, as he steps up criticism of Trump as commander-in-chief.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to be much more forceful, but here to protect the homeland, as well as overseas to create a strategy to unite the world against this grave threat. And I don't believe Donald Trump has capability of doing that.
BASH: Trump is sending some mixed signals on foreign policy. In an interview this morning with CNN's "NEW DAY," he said invading Afghanistan after 9/11 was a right move.
TRUMP: We were safe in a sense, but we went into Iraq, which was a disaster decision. Just a disastrous decision. Not Afghanistan because that's probably where we should have gone in the first place.
BASH: But just two weeks ago on the same CNN program, he said the opposite.
TRUMP: We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had real brilliant thinkers that didn't know what the hell they were doing.
BASH: When reminded of that today, Trump denied flip-flopping.
TRUMP: I haven't said it. Look, Afghanistan is a different thing. It's next to Pakistan and Pakistan has nuclear weapons, OK?
BASH: The Trump confusion and controversy has not hurt him in the past. For example, despite questionable remarks about women, appearing to make fun of Carly Fiorina's face, Trump is tied for first place with female Republican voters. CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think women all over
this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.
[01:10:02] BASH: As for Fiorina, the only female candidate in the Republican race, her surge after a strong debate showing last month has ended. She dropped 11 points with women alone, registering now at just 4 percent.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We have this just into CNN. A New York police officer is dead after being shot in the head while chasing a gunman in east Harlem. 33-year-old Randolph Holder and his partner were responding to reports of gun shots. The plain clothes officers exchanged fire with the suspect who was arrested and treated with gunshot wounds to his leg. Holder was a native of Guyana and a five-year veteran of the police department.
To the Middle East now where the spiral of violence shows no signs of slowing between Israelis and the Palestinians. At least eight Israelis and 45 Palestinians have been killed in weeks of Palestinian attacks and Israeli responses.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is urging calm. He's on a surprise visit to the region. He'll meet with Palestinian leaders in the next few hours. On Tuesday he appeared at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The Israelis and Palestinians stand on the brink of another catastrophic period of violence. We need to keep the situation from escalating into a religious conflict with the potential regional implications.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Phil Black live in East Jerusalem this hour. He joins us now live.
So, Phil, despite the calls for calm coming from the very, very top there, there does seem to be no end of the attacks from the Palestinians and the tough security measures from the Israelis.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John. Another act of violence it would seem, certainly a violent event this morning in the West Bank. A 15-year-old girl was shot while she was, according to Israeli officials, trying to approach an Israeli Jewish settlement, with a knife. We don't know the status of that 15-year- old girl just yet.
But as you touched on the cycle of violence shows no sign of easing in the foreseeable future, which leaves some pretty pessimistic alternatives, one, that this is the new normal, these random knife attacks carried out by individuals seeking to harm Israeli citizens, police soldiers, those attacks that we've been seeing with such frequency over the last two weeks.
They continue and that would mean that the very tough, restrictive Israeli security measures continue as well, including the effective lockdown that exists around some Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem. The other option, well, that's even more grim. And that would be an escalation. It is difficult to predict how, when -- how that might happen but in this powder keg sort of environment with tensions as high as they are, it could almost be triggered at any time -- John.
VAUSE: Phil, has this now reached a point where speeches and calls for calm are pretty much next to useless? And if so then where does that leave the situation as to exactly what needs to be done within the Israeli leadership and the Palestinian leadership?
BLACK: Well, so you have the U.N. secretary-general having a go at trying to calm this. The U.S. secretary of state is going to try his hand here as well. But again, there's no real optimism here. There is a belief among some Israelis that perhaps these international figures could convince the Palestinian leadership to perhaps dial back their language a little, perhaps try and denounce some of this violence.
But as I say, no real hope that's going to happen. And the reality is that on both sides there is the belief that the other is talking and behaving in ways that is only exacerbating this conflict, this cycle of violence if you like. So the Israelis blame the Palestinian for using what they say is enormous enticement for effectively encouraging the terror and violence that is taking place here, the hatred of Jews, they say.
The Palestinians, well, they believe that this is all part of this anger and frustration over what they perceive as the wider Israeli occupation of their territory, disproportionate security responses, Israeli oppression and so forth. This is -- this is where we're at. The grievances in a sense are very old. They're just more intractable now perhaps than they have been for a long time.
There is no sense of any negotiation or peace process moving forward from here. There's not even agreement on both sides as to whether that would make any real difference, the security situation on the ground. So again, no real optimism that any sort of talk or negotiations at this very preliminary level at which they are taking place would really have any major impact here, John.
VAUSE: Phil, thank you. Phil Black live this hour, just gone 8:15 on a -- on a Wednesday morning, rather, there in Jerusalem. Thank you, Phil.
It is a strictly produced look at a war. It's from a distance. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Russia's air campaign in Syria as the Kremlin presents it back home.
[01:15:06] Also, deep in the Norwegian mountains, a place that scientists say could save us all from a global crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON RIDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS REPORTER: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines.
Another eight games have been played in the Champions League. Arsenal needed a big win against the German champions Bayern Munich and they got it. The gunners broke the deadlock when the ball went to Olivier Giroud and they made sure of the points in the last minute.
Mesut Ozil shot appeared to be saved, but the replay showed it did cross the line and the ref gave it. The game of the night came in Leverkusen, where the German side blew a two-goal lead against Roma, but then produced a late fight back to share the points, in a thrilling 4-all draw.
The election to select a new FIFA president will go ahead as originally planned on the 26th of February next year. Football's world governing body has confirmed. But as the ethics committee tries to process their investigations into both Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee has weighed in. Domenico Scala says that Blatter's $2 million payment to Platini, which is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland, was a conflict of interest. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
The short list is out for the Ballon d'Or, the annual poll to name the best footballer in the world. And the list has a very familiar ring to it. It's Christiano Ronaldo, Leon Messi and 21 others. Between them, Ronaldo and Messi have won the last seven awards.
That is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.
Fresh from his big win in the general election, Canada's next prime minister spoke on the phone with the U.S. president. Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama agreed to build on their countries' already strong bond but the prime minister also told the president he will pull Canadian jets from the fight against ISIS. Canadian forces involved in training and humanitarian aid will stay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE: I spoke with President Obama and we talked about Canada's continued engagement as a strong member of the coalition against ISIL. And I committed that we would continue to engage in a responsible way that understands how important Canada has a role to play in the fight against ISIL. But he understands the commitments I've made around ending the combat mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP) [01:20:16] VAUSE: Among Mr. Trudeau's other campaign promises, jump- starting Canada's economy and legalizing marijuana.
Russia is not letting up on its offensive in Syria. The Defense Ministry says there were 60 airstrikes on ISIS and Nusra Front positions during a 24-hour period. And as Matthew Chance reports, the government is releasing a new video to bolster support for the military operation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It feels more like a video game than a war. But this is how the Kremlin portrays its campaign in Syria -- slick, highly professional and devoid of casualties.
This gunning drone footage was shot in Jobar, a devastated eastern suburb of Damascus, and broadcast on Russian state television earlier this week. Meanwhile Russia's leaders bang home their message.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): Having made a stronghold in Syria and other countries of the Middle East, terrorists have been making plans to expand to destabilize entire regions. They continue to recruit militants from many countries, including unfortunately from Russia and other former Soviet states.
CHANCE: But the reality of Russia's air war is only now starting to emerge. According to one monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Russian air strikes have killed at least 370 people so far, including 127 civilians and 36 children.
And that air war is unabated. Russian Defense officials say rebel few depots and arms dumps are among the daily targets being hit, as well as front line positions of ISIS and other rebels groups. But the human impact is clear to see. No amount of polish or post production can hide the sheer trauma Syria's war and now Russia's involvement in it has brought.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: After several close encounters in the skies over Syria, Russia and the U.S. have reached an agreement aimed at avoiding in-flight incidence. But a U.S. official says there is no specifics on what safe distance should be between the aircrafts. And the Pentagon spokesman says the agreement does not establishment zones of cooperation, intelligence sharing or sharing of target information.
A fortress in Norway may seem an odd place for the largest collection of crops on earth but that's exactly where the world has placed its seed samples and it fate.
Arwa Damon went there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Glittering, like an exotic gem in the distance. The entrance to the Svalbard Seed Vault extends out of the side of an arctic mountain. Looking more like a villain's lair from a James Bond movie than where humanity has banked the seeds of its survival.
We walk into a long cement foreboding hallway, safety helmets line the wall, protection against falling ice.
MICHAEL KOCH, CROP TRUST: So that's about 150 meters down into the mountain. This is becoming the Perma frost here in granite.
DAMON: Michael Koch with the Crop Trust that oversees the vault, guides us deeper into the mountain. With each step, the temperature drops. It's like something out of a movie.
KOCH: It is like a holy place. Every time I come here, I feel like I'm in a cathedral. This is a place to pause and to think, because it's a very unique place, and it's a very important place for humanity.
DAMON (on camera): This is so beautiful. And yet, it's so simple. It's just a door, but behind it is the key to humanity's salvation.
(Voice-over): There are 860,000 types of seeds from all over the world here.
KOCH: So you've got boxes from Germany, from Nigeria, from India, the United States, the largest gene bank in the world. That's an interesting box right here. Now this box comes from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the only wooden boxes in the vault.
DAMON: This is humanity's insurance policy, meant to safeguard against cataclysmic events that wipe out our crops. Despite multiple conflicts around the world, Koch says that's not what will bring about our demise.
[01:25:03] KOCH: Agriculture is not adapting as fast currently as the climate is changing on us. We have to adapt to rising temperatures, to wind and storm and flooding, new diseases and pests. We have salt water coming into the rice paddies in the fields, so salination is an issue. So these tolerances to these issues are found here. This is a diversity of the genes that you're going to use to adapt agriculture, and you do not know what you're going to need 50 or 100, or 500 years from now.
DAMON: Even if power goes out, the vault can preserve these seeds for decades. In the race against climate change, protecting our past may be the only way to ensure our future.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Svalbard Norway.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come here, an animal rights group says Hong Kong is a major player in the illegal ivory trade. And we'll show you the undercover video of dealers getting around the law.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: And it just gone 10:30 on a Tuesday night here in Los Angeles, and you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. We'll check the headlines.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is on a surprise visit to the Middle East. He is imploring Israelis and Palestinians to stop the spiraling violence. Ban is set to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in just a few hours. On Tuesday he met with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
[01:30:04] Mahmoud Abbas will meet with him in just a few hours.
Canada's newly elected prime minister designate spoke by phone with U.S. President Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau and the president agreed to deepen already strong ties with the two countries. But Mr. Trudeau also made it clear he will pull Canadian fighter jets out of the fight with ISIS.
U.S. Republican Congressman Paul Ryan says he's willing to replace John Boehner, the retiring speaker of the House of Representatives. But first, he wants the support of three key groups within the party. He also wants to make it harder to overthrow a sitting speaker. He says he'll make a final decision within the week.
Hong Kong has long been suspected of playing a legal role between Africa and China of illegal ivory smuggling. Now there's a new undercover video showing Hong Kong ivory traders offering illegal sales and getting around those legal restrictions.
Senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, joins us now with live from Hong Kong.
Really, Ivan, Hong Kong is often seen as a weak link globally in so many ways.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's important to note that earlier this week, Britain's Prince William issued a speech in which he warned, at the current rates of killing, the wild African elephant could be extinct on the African continent within a generation. And, of course, the poachers are going after that very valuable elephant ivory tusk, which is illegal to be traded across borders.
What many people may not know is that ivory is bought and sold openly here in hundreds of shops, licensed shops in Hong Kong. A long investigation by a nature conservancy group has concluded with the accusation that at least some of these ivory traders may be involved in smuggling illegal poached ivory.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (voice-over): Ivory for sale, giant elephant tusks, some as tall as a grown man, on display in shops. Ornately carved with drills in back room workshops, luxury items that have long been coveted in places like China.
(on camera): There are hundreds of licensed ivory dealers in Hong Kong, like this store here. They all say they sell ivory from stockpiles of elephant tusk that existed before the international sale of ivory was banned in 1989.
(voice-over): But a year-long investigation by a nature conservancy group, Wild Aid, suggests some Hong Kong traders are cheating the system.
(on camera): What does this video tell you?
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER, WILD AID: The legal trade of ivory in Hong Kong is masking illegal trade.
WATSON (voice-over): Hours of video filmed on hidden cameras obtained by Wild Aid and shared with CNN includes this clip which appears shows an ivory dealer posting how easy it is to launder ivory by swapping legal pre-1989 elephant tusks for freshly poached ivory smuggled in from Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED MERCHANT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WATSON: In a separate video, a merchant offers to get fresh shipments of ivory from Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED MERCHANT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WATSON: Africa is struggling with an epidemic of poaching. Hunters kill tens of thousands of wild African elephants every year.
The government in mainland China, long one of the world's largest market for ivory, has been cracking down on ivory smuggling. Last month, the U.S. and Chinese presidents announced plans to stop the domestic commercial trade of ivory. Authorities in Hong Kong tell CNN they're also cracking down, seizing 16.7 tons of smuggled ivory in the last three years, and introducing a more sophisticated tracking system to better regulate the sale of legal ivory.
But one local lawmaker wants to shut down ivory sales altogether.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we can stop the selling Hong Kong, we can cut off the demand side, and then while we can stop the buying, we can stop the killing, too.
WATSON: At current rates of poaching, activists fear the largest living mammal to walk the earth could be extinct within a generation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we don't stop it fast enough or soon enough, what will happen is you and me have to tell our next generation, our kids, they are once upon a time there were elephants on earth.
(SINGING)
WATSON: Some schoolchildren in Hong Kong have joined the campaign against the ivory trade. A Hong Kong university poll shows a majority of people surveyed here
support a ban of ivory sales, but it could take years before such a ban is put in place, precious time for Africa's dwindling elephant population.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:35:11] WATSON: John, we reached out to the Hong Kong government for comment about some of these allegations and received a response from Hong Kong's Agricultural Fisheries and Conservation Department, which insisted they've taken serious measures to try to track down on possible smuggling, such as conducting a stock check of all licensed ivory in the city, carrying out surprise inspections of licensed ivory shops and introducing a marking system of a tamper-proof hologram to track ivory.
For those, again, who are urging that Hong Kong impose a complete bad on domestic trade on ivory in Hong Kong, such as the ban discussed by Chinese and American presidents just last month, legislators here say it would be at least a year before such a plan would be on the table before lawmakers, and it could take much long before that could be put in place -- John?
VAUSE: Sounds like they're stalling.
Ivan, a depressing but important report. Thank you very much.
The downpour from Typhoon Koppu is over in the Philippines. It killed at least 26 people while forcing more than 100,000 others into shelters. The storm lingered over the island nation for days, bringing flooding, strong winds, as well as landslides. Residents now starting to clean up. Officials say the damage could exceed $100 million. The storm brought some of the heaviest rainfall ever for the Philippines.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is with us now with more on that.
We're talking a lot of rain for the Philippines.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, there have been plenty of storms. On the order of 15 to 20 every single year. Never before have we seen the amount of rainfall across these observation points. You go 1,300 millimeters in a 24-hour period, that's 52 inches of hateful we're verifying these records, this is the case from automatic gauges. We're talking again about the wettest single event across portions of the Philippines with hundreds and hundreds of storms across this region. By we open the record books. We've had hateful observations from Cyclone denies back in 1966 of 72 inches coming down in 24 hours.
We've had severe drought across parts of Texas and 14 million people dealing with drought across this part of the United States. Possibly 10 or more inches throughout the next couple of days around Corpus Christi with tropical moisture interacting with a trough in place. There's certainly flooding concern. If you take a look at New York City, John, 36 degrees, that's about 2 Celsius if you're watching us across the United States. 2 Celsius on Monday morning. Look what happened in the past couple of days. Up to about 70, then 72 degrees, that's the forecast high temperature going from near freezing to the 70s a couple of days' time. It's that time of year in the autumn where you see this seesaw battle in the temperatures -- John?
VAUSE: It's whacky when it does that.
(LAUGHTER)
JAVAHERI: Not in California, though, right?
VAUSE: It's perfect one day, beautiful the next.
OK, thanks, Pedram.
JAVAHERI: Yeah.
VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back, we'll go "Back to the Future" to see what the classic sci-fi movie predicted in 2015. What it got right, what it got wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:42:26] VAUSE: A beloved TV personality and animal activist is recovering after a fall in Hollywood. Bob Barker, the long-time host of "The Price is Right," tripped and hit his head on the sidewalk. Police say 91-year-old Barker was conscious and alert. He was rushed to a hospital and treated for cuts.
Lamar Odom's family says the former NBA star is making progress, even taking a few steps. He's continuing his recovery in Los Angeles after days of treatment in Las Vegas. Odom was rushed to a hospital last week after employees found him unresponsive in a brothel in Nevada. His estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, has been by his side.
Another heart breaker for the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, this time on home turf. The Cubs lost to the New York Mets. That puts Chicago down 3-0 in the best of seven National League championship series. Fans have been watching this with particular interest because the Cubs have not won a World Series in 107 years.
The Cubs are also getting a lot of attention for another reason. The 1989 sci-fi classic "Back to the Future, Part 2" predicted the Cubs would win the World Series in October 2015. And technically, it's still possible.
Here's Paul Vercammen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: How far are you going?
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: About 30 years.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of all the whacky visions in the "Back to the Future" trilogy, perhaps none was more silly than the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series.
FOX: Wait a minute. Cubs win the World Series.
VERCAMMEN: Co-screenwriter, Bob Gale, came up with this absurd idea for the 1989 film and the lead character.
BOB GALE, CO-SCREENWRITER: I'm thinking, OK, Marty McFly needs to be inspired as to how he could make a fortune by being in the future. He's a 17-year-old kid, what's he going to be thinking about? He's not going to be thinking about the stock market. He's going to be thinking about sports.
VERCAMMEN: And the Cubs still haven't won a championship since 1908.
But jump in the DeLorean, time travel to now. The Chicago Cubs could make it to the World Series by beating the Mets.
FOX: What did you just say?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I said I wish I could go back to the beginning of the season, put some money on the Cubbies.
VERCAMMEN: Back to the present and the mall, Twin Pines, in the movie. James Ray made multiple bets on the Cubs in the World Series and he drove here from Arizona to take photos with movie props put on display.
JAMES RAY, MOVIE FAN: When I got an opportunity to see this and put a little money on the Cubbies, it felt like a great chance to not only root for my team but root for my movie.
VERCAMMEN (on camera): You hang around this mall long enough and more and more strange things happen.
You are?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Martin.
VERCAMMEN: Martin. And you're from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from Sweden.
[01:45:15] VERCAMMEN: And for some reason, you had to come all the way here to see this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
VERCAMMEN: What is it about this movie that gets you so excited?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first, I like film. And, second, I really like the DeLorean car.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): So while Martin cares about cars, not Cubs, the screenwriter is definitely thinking about how the Cubs ousted his favorite team, the cardinals, from the playoffs.
GALE: Quoting someone who wisely defined mixed emotions as watching your mother-in-law drive off the cliff in your brand-new Mercedes.
It's been fun. The idea that we've made this absurd prediction 26 years ago and it might actually come true.
Paul Vercammen, CNN, La Puente, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: OK, the Cubs winning the World Series is one prediction "Back to the Future" that may not come true. But surprisingly, the movie did get quite a few things right.
Garrett Reim with us now from the "Los Angeles Business Journal"
OK, let's start with the big one, the hover board. Let's take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: He's on a hover board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, not one but two companies are close to having hover boards actually out there on sale. Is that surprising?
GARRETT REIM, LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL: I think if there's anything anyone wants from the movie, it's definitely the hover board. It's definitely technology wise a little difficult to accomplish. They use sort of magnetic levitation system, it has to run on a track. So it's not quite what Marty McFly got in the movie, but kind of fun as well.
VAUSE: That's the point. Another prediction, which is close to coming to reality, look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FOX: Power laces, all right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Nike apparently close to the self-lacing, self-tying shoes. Is there actually a market for self-tying shoes?
REIM: I don't know if there's a market, but it makes a good promo item. They filed a patent in 2008. There's a patent for Nikes with little motors on the bottom that will self-cinch the shoes.
VAUSE: And then there was another prediction in the movie, and it looks kind of like Skype.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Hey, hey, Big M. How is it hanging McFly?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Not a bad guess when you think 30 years ago, you think about how popular Skype is.
REIM: They got a lot of things right. That's a flat screen TV, video conferencing. Of course, we have Skype and Facetime and a number of other options. I think people like to speak face to face and technology at its best is not just a tool but a way to simulate real life.
VAUSE: What was the biggest thing they got wrong, the flying car?
REIM: The flying car was a big miss. The FAA doesn't trust people.
VAUSE: Oddly enough.
VAUSE: Yeah, who knew?
REIM: Probably, the fax machine was up there.
VAUSE: They still use the fax machine in North Korea and China. They love them.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: OK, thanks for coming in.
REIM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Good talking with you.
A short break here. Mexican authorities claim the most-wanted man is still on the run and he may have been injured. We'll have an update on el Chapo when we come back.
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VAUSE: Sony pictures will pay almost $8 million to settle a class action lawsuit employees filed over a cyber attack. The breach was blamed on North Korea. Allegedly tied to Sony's release of a comedy set in North Korea called "The Interview." That reportedly compromised personal data for thousands of employees along with plenty of e-mails between movie stars and executives, revealing all kinds of awkward information and opinions, salaries, that kind of stuff.
The U.S. teenager who made headline when he was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school will soon move to Qatar with his family. Ahmed Mohamed, nicknamed "Clock Boy," is accepting a scholarship from a foundation in the Persian Gulf country. The 14-year-old was interrogated by police last month after his teacher mistook his clock for a bomb and reported it to police. Many accuse the teachers and police involved of racial profiling and Islamophobia. With the #IstandwithAhmed quickly taking off on social media.
Authors in Mexico say they just missed capturing the dangerous prison escapee called el Chapo earlier this month. A Mexican official tells CNN they think Joaquin Guzman injured himself when he fell off a small cliff as authorities moved in, but the kingpin's bodyguards helped him get away.
Details from Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "el Chapo" Guzman, and authorities say they're close to recapturing him.
We've come to Mexico to try to get a sense of just how close. But it's not easy.
(on camera): For security reasons, we have to keep a low profile. Because the risk we face includes everything from corrupt cops to an Army of drug cartel and informants who are looking out for just about everything we do. So sometimes the video or owe might not be as good as you're accustomed to because we're using less than traditional means.
(voice-over): The danger here is real. Last week, officials said they nearly had Guzman, cornering him in a town in the mountains of Sinaloa State in northwest Mexico. Exactly what happened isn't clear but it was definitely violent. Reportedly Mexican Marines swooped in from the air, reportedly getting so close to Guzman he was injured in the frantic dash to get away. But he got away, much to government embarrassment.
Locals tell a different story. They describe a less precise military strike with helicopters raining gun fire indiscriminately down on homes, vehicles and people.
Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum security prison last July, literally under the guards' feet, through a mile-long tunnel. That isn't out of character. Part of his drug lord success is the use of tunnels to smuggle drugs into the United States.
[01:55:21] (on camera): There's a reason this search is so focused on this state. It's a place where Guzman obviously feels comfortable and where he was arrested before. In a house not that far away from here, and then brought to that high rise beachfront hotel, and kept there for a couple of days, until authorities could arrange a safe transport back to Mexico city.
(voice-over): For all these reasons, authorities believe they're close, and the area remains on edge. Everyone here knows it is an all-out effort to find the man called the most dangerous criminal in the world, who may be injured, desperate and possibly cornered. There is a lot that could go wrong.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Sinaloa State, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett. They'll be right up after a short break.
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