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Canadian Tour Boat Sinks off Vancouver Island; Fishermen Rescue Migrant Toddler from Sea; Kerry, Lavrov Discuss Syria Conflict; New Video of Special Ops Raid to Rescue ISIS Hostages; Driver Charged with Murder in Oklahoma Crash; Mexico Cleans Up after Patricia; Families Still Divided Decades after Korean War; Fighting for Olive Branches in West Bank; U.S. Presidential Race; "Spectre" Premieres in London. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 26, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Desperate journeys: E.U. and Balkan leaders agree to a unified plan to deal with the ever-growing wave of migrants.
No, thanks: Syrian rebels reject Russia's effort to provide air cover on the battlefield for them.
And hostage rescue: dramatic video of U.S. commandos kicking down doors of an ISIS jail.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOWELL: And good day to you. We begin this hour with a rescue effort off Canada's Vancouver Island, this after a tour boat carrying 27 people sank.
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HOWELL (voice-over): This is a picture that just came into our newsroom of the boat overturned in the water. At least four people are dead. And CBC News reports at least nine have been rescued. But it is not yet clear if all passengers and crew have been accounted for.
The mayor of the closest town, Tofino, spoke to CNN last hour and she says there is no word on what caused the boat to capsize but she did describe the weather out on the water Sunday. Listen.
JOSIE OSBORNE, TOFINO MAYOR: It was a beautiful day here in Tofino. There were some big swells out on the ocean. But we just don't know anything about what may have happened at the scene.
It is quite some distance away from the small town of Tofino. The efforts have been coming to one of our main docks here in town and our community, which is just 2,000 people. We're just a tiny coastal community, has responded just phenomenally. And people are out with blankets and food and with clothing for people and supporting them as we go through this altogether.
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HOWELL: So it's a developing story. We will, of course, continue to follow it and bring you the latest here on CNN.
With no end in sight to the wave of migrants risking their lives to reach Europe, leaders from the Balkans and European Union have now reached a new agreement, a plan, a 17-point plan, to start managing the crisis.
And among the measures, 100,000 spaces will be created for people at reception centers to be located along the routes that migrants take from Greece up into Germany. Half will be in Greece. The other half will be along the Western Balkans route.
The E.U. border agency will ensure that migrants trying to cross the Greek-Macedonian border are registered and management of all borders will be increased.
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JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The immediate imperative is to provide shelter and ensure refugees and migrants along Western Balkans route are treated in a humane manner. It cannot be that in view of 2015, people are left to fend for themselves, sleeping in fields, wading chest-deep through rivers in freezing temperatures.
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HOWELL: This is an ongoing crisis. And when you look at the latest numbers on migrants traveling into Europe, the numbers are staggering. According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 700,000 people made this journey into Europe by sea so far alone this year -- this year alone, I should say. More than 3,000 people died in the attempt.
It is a huge jump over the 207,000 migrants who crossed the Mediterranean in all of 2014.
As this mass migration continues there are so many stories of risk and so many stories of dangers, like this story, where a fisherman pulled an 18-month-old child from the sea and saved his life. We caution you that some of the images that you will see here may be difficult to watch. Amara Walker reports.
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AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baby Mohamed Hassan clings to his mother in Turkey, their journey to get here a harrowing one; their survival, miraculous. Just days ago, fishermen off Turkey's coast spotted the 18-month old
and others floating in life jackets in the Aegean Sea. Video of the rescue shows a fisherman rushing to pull the bodies from the cold water.
The boy is brought into the boat. The fisherman tries frantically to clear the water from the boy's lungs. He is barely responsive. But he is alive.
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WALKER (voice-over): Fearing hypothermia, the fisherman proceeds to remove the child's wet clothes and wrap him in a warm blanket.
The fishermen were able to pull some 15 refugees from the water, including baby Mohammed and his mother. They were among 30 refugees aboard a small boat headed for Greece, a boat they hoped would take them to a better life, but capsized before reaching shore.
More than 500,000 people have arrived by sea in Greece this year, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Thousands have died. But to Mohammed and his family, lucky to have made it to solid ground, these fishermen are heroes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You both gave him a second life. We are grateful to you. May God bless you.
WALKER (voice-over): Amara Walker, CNN.
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HOWELL: Sunday's national election in Poland may impact how the E.U. handles the migrant crisis. The country's conservative Law and Justice Party declared victory after exit polls indicate they won 242 of the 460 seats. The Conservative Party opposes joining the E.U. or having migrants relocate to Poland.
Russia is calling on Syria to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad met with Russian lawmakers in Damascus on Sunday. One of the lawmakers said Assad's first priority is defeating terrorism. Syria's state-run news agency said Assad told lawmakers, quote, "elimination of terrorist groups would lead to a political solution to the Syrian conflict."
The Western-backed Free Syrian Army is scoffing at Russia's offer to provide aerial support to them and other opposition groups that are fighting ISIS. They say Russia must stop bombing them before talking about helping them.
The rebels and the United States have accused Moscow of using its air campaign to target them and civilians instead of targeting ISIS.
In the coming hours, E.U. foreign ministers are set to meet in Brussels to discuss Russia's involvement in Syria. And following it all, our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, joins us now live from Moscow. Nic, good to have you with us. So, look, this is all happening on the
heels of the Russian foreign minister having a phone conversation with the U.S. secretary of state.
Do we know much about what came out of that conversation?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are told it was quite a brief phone call. This was a phone call on Sunday. We are told that it talked about trying to find a political way forward and also, efforts to sort of get multilateral talks for a political process to solve the crisis inside Syria.
But really what we are seeing here is a shift in the narrative that's emerging in Russia at the moment from the military side to the political diplomatic side.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of television coverage here, showing Russia's airstrikes inside Syria over the past couple of days we have heard a lot more about the diplomatic efforts.
Indeed Sergey Lavrov has talked to U.S. secretary of state John Kerry three times on consecutive days, not just the phone call Sunday, a phone call Saturday widely reported here as well.
And, of course, the extensive meetings the two had face-to-face in Vienna which were the first time the pair had met since Russia began its bombardments inside Syria.
So what we are seeing is Russia pushing the focus away from the military action and towards trying to establish itself as a key player in an international agenda to bring a political solution to the crisis. At the moment, however, you have to look and say this is clearly going to be a very long road.
But the fact that Kerry and Lavrov have talked two or three times in the last few days is an indication that those efforts are underway and pushing more than they have been than we might have seen over recent years.
HOWELL: There is also talk about Russia expanding its scope. There were Russian and Iranian news reports on Sunday, Nic, saying Russia would begin airstrikes against targets in Iraq but with no timetable.
Do we know much more about that?
ROBERTSON: I think there were several ways we could look at this. The reaction to Russia getting into Iraqi airspace to chase down ISIS is something that is not sitting well in the United States.
But if we look at the daily reports that we see coming from the United States, about its targeting of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, since Russia began its strikes inside Syria, we have seen a greater number of strikes by the United States against ISIS inside of Iraq rather than targets in Syria.
[00:02:10] ROBERTSON: There are clear concerns about deconfliction of having the two air forces, Russian and U.S., in the air over the skies of one country at the same time. This would equate perhaps even more strongly in Syria -- in Iraq, rather, where the United States has been very heavily engaged and continues to be in airstrikes against ISIS there.
What Russia, what the Russian state media is quoting Iranian media as saying, that Russia would be able to follow ISIS targets across the border as they move from Syria into Iraq, logical militarily because that, to, to allow them sanctuary inside Iraq from Russian strikes would, to a military analyst might see an anathema.
But at a political level this does seem a potentially difficult development. When we hear statements like this from the Russian state news agency, quite often this is followed up by events on the ground in the coming weeks.
HOWELL: Our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, live for us in the Russian capital.
Nic, thank you so much for your reporting and insight on this.
Speaking of Iraq, we are seeing video of a coalition warplane. The warplane is taking out the prison where hostages were being held by ISIS. After the raid to try to rescue them, the Pentagon just released this video of that airstrike.
Nick Paton Walsh shows us how the rescue operation unfolded second by second before that prison was destroyed.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Very secretive world. You're about to get a very rare and intimate window into. The U.S. special forces working with the Kurds, the Kurdish Peshmerga special forces, well, they've always on an advise and assist mission. No one really knew quite what that meant they were involved in the fighting. But in this video, it's pretty clear they're right up front the tip of the spear.
WALSH (voice-over): You're now right inside the jailbreak that revealed America's changed role in Iraq. They think they're rescuing Kurds from this ISIS jail but look who staggers out -- terrified Iraqis. Even their eyes lit up by fear caught on the Kurdish soldier's helmet camera.
It's edited but U.S. officials tell CNN it's genuine. More cells opened, it seems, and the Iraqi soldier and civilian hostages keep coming.
An office, an ISIS flag; more cells and perhaps a target through the light of the door. Then, a quick close-up, likely of an American commando.
"Don't be afraid," he cries, as they search the prisoners.
Remember, they were expecting Kurds. Perhaps these men are ISIS, have guns or bombs.
It's the Americans who seem in charge here, the captives' relief palpable, U.S. officials saying they faced imminent execution.
It's unclear when, before or after this footage, the Americans here learned one of their own was gunned down. But their mission went on to rescue 70.
That first combat death since 2011 in Iraq, forcing public acknowledgement American commandos were now boots on the ground.
WALSH: When the last hours defense gone through CENTCOM have released what they say is cockpit video of an airstrike that destroyed that particular compound in which you've just seen the intense fighting, laid waste, really, by that explosion and it brings perhaps an end to that chapter there in which the United States lost one of their commandos, Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, age 39, a veteran of 14 tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, remarkable figure.
And it reminds you, really, of the depth of involvement the United States have had in what used to be called the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq and how that has now morphed into the extraordinarily messy and complex task of taking on ISIS, one which the White House does not want to send ground troops in to do.
But at the same time recognizes increasingly day by day will require people to actually do the fighting, to do the jailbreaks, to release the hostage. And this footage such a close-up view of quite how much tip of the spear the American commandos were -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Southern Turkey.
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HOWELL: The U.S.-led coalition effort in Iraq has turned into a war --
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HOWELL: -- against ISIS. In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, former British prime minister, Tony Blair, acknowledged the Iraq War helped ISIS come to the foreground. He apologized, though, for mistakes made during the invasion but says he does not regret ousting Saddam Hussein. Listen.
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TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Of course, you can't say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015. We have tried intervention and putting down troops in Iraq; we have tried intervention without putting in troops in Libya. And we've tried no intervention at all but demanding regime change in Syria.
It's not clear to me that, even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better.
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HOWELL: Be sure to tune in to Fareed Zakaria's special report, "Long Road to Hell: America in Iraq." It airs Tuesday at 1:00 am in London right here on CNN.
The polls are closed in Argentina and it looks as if the country could be headed for a run-off vote.
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HOWELL (voice-over): Conservative opposition candidate Mauricio Macri took a surprise lead over Buenos Aires state governor Daniel Scioli, with nearly 75 percent of the ballots counted.
Scioli is the chosen successor of the current president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. After two consecutive terms in office, she cannot run again this year. The run-off is scheduled for December 22nd.
In Guatemala, former comedian with no political experience is already making plans for his role as president of the country. In a news conference on Sunday, Jimmy Morales thanked his opponent, former first lady Sandra Torres, for recognizing the election results and then conceding.
He said he will introduce a new transition team on Monday. Preliminary results indicate Morales won nearly 70 percent of the vote.
In U.S. politics, Vice President Joe Biden is opening up about his decision not to run for president in 2016. He tells the U.S. news show "60 Minutes" that he believes he ran out of time to run a winning campaign. Biden also made it clear that his decision had nothing to do with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
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JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I like Hillary. Hillary and I get along together. The only reason I would run is I still think I could do a better job than anybody else can do. That's the reason to run. I wouldn't run against Hillary.
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HOWELL: The vice president admitted that the mourning process held him back from making a decision earlier. His son, Beau, as you'll remember, died of brain cancer just a few months ago. And the family is still grieving.
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BIDEN: At one point, late summer, I thought, well, you know I think we can do this. And I will never forget, my little granddaughter, we're down by the swimming pool. Mom says, time for dinner everybody. And everybody goes up. And she's lying between my legs with her head on my chest. And turns around and puts her arms around me and starts sobbing.
Says, Pop, I see Daddy all the time. I see Daddy all the time.
Pop, you smell like Daddy.
You're not going to leave me, are you, Pop?
Well, when that happens, you go, I don't know, man.
HOWELL (voice-over): Vice President Joe Biden says one thing that he will work on during his remaining months as vice president is pushing for more cancer research.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Still to come, top U.S. Democrats spent the weekend in Iowa, trading jabs and rallying for support at one of the biggest campaign events of the season. We will take you there coming up.
Plus, a driver is facing murder charges after she allegedly slammed her car into a crowd, leaving four people dead. She'll be in court in the coming hours. Details ahead as CNN NEWSROOM continues.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a crazy 24 hours. The OU Medical Center really has helped out. To say the least, best doctors around. And everybody kept a cool head. And I think Leo and the rest of the families of children are in the best hand they can be.
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HOWELL: A great deal of grief in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Family and friends there are still reeling from the moment that left some of their loved ones dead or injured.
A small memorial appeared at the scene, where police say a woman driving under the influence plowed into a crowd of people at a university homecoming parade. Adacia Chambers will appear in court on Monday to face four counts of second degree murder. CNN's Nick Valencia has details of the deadly crash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can hear the horrific screams from the crowd as a car barrels through a homecoming parade in Oklahoma. The cellphone video captures just how fast the driver was going on Saturday afternoon when she crashed into the celebration filled with unsuspecting victims.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were here having fun. Literally they don't know what hit them. It just came 40, 50 miles an hour.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The suspect, 25-year-old Adacia Chambers, walked away from the crash in handcuffs. Littered throughout the scene, debris from the crash that killed four people. Several others are in critical condition. In all, at least 47 were hurt.
Caylee Carter (ph) was one of them.
CAYLEE CARTER (PH), CRASH VICTIM: I am never going to forget that in my mind. It's going to replay over and over.
VALENCIA (voice-over): She says there were bodies everywhere.
CARTER: I just saw something black coming at us. I didn't know what it was at first. And so I stopped and ran and the car hit me as it was stopping. And then I flew over some strollers.
VALENCIA (voice-over): At the Oklahoma State University homecoming, a moment of silence; players kneel to honor the victims. Among those killed, 2-year-old Nash Lucas.
Late Saturday, his father posted a message on Facebook.
"Miss you so much, buddy."
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VALENCIA (voice-over): Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOWELL: Switching now to over to weather. People in parts of Mexico, they are breathing a collective sigh of relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Patricia. This storm came ashore as the most powerful hurricane ever recorded but just as quickly as it blew up, it dissipated, broke apart. And the damage was much lighter than expected.
Still, in some areas, the homes of about 3,000 people were damaged from this storm mostly by raging floodwaters.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is here with us now to talk about the storm.
Pedram, it was amazing to look at how quickly the storm grew, how quickly it dissipated. And now we are dealing with the aftermath, the effect, as the storm moves up into Texas. PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, yes, you know for Mexico, too, really is remarkable when you think about the potent hurricane ever observed.
On our planet, George, hurricanes are dictated by the laws of physics. They can't get past a certain strength because of the atmospheric conditions. This particular one literally reached the top of the charts with 200 mile-per-hour winds. But damage only on the order of thousands of homes damaged, several fatalities and we thought could certainly be catastrophic. So we'll break down exactly what transpired.
Parts of the United States getting in on some of the moisture. Look at the satellite presentation on a storm system that, if there were a category 6, it would have been categorized as such, hypothetically speaking, because of the tremendous strength above what would be the typical period between a 2 to 3 to 4 and then beyond that to a 5.
So take a look. We know the population density to the north around Puerto Vallarta, over 650,000 people in the area, the general region around Puerto Vallarta. To the south, Manzanillo, over 250,000 people in the vicinity and points south.
In the area indicated in the blue, the large region there, only 50,000 or so people. And then you go for a closer perspective, the area there, home to 1 person in every, say, 30 people, every square kilometer of land. It's very sparsely populated. Certainly some towns in the path of that that were damaged significantly. But the wind that were category 5 strength were only 25 kilometer or 15 miles across. Again, narrow path of damage going through a sparsely populated region.
Look at the moisture associated with it, it surged on into the Gulf of Mexico, meeting up with an existing storm system. Already done quite a bit of damage over the region as far as rainfall totals. Some areas over 500 millimeters have come down over the state of Texas. In New Orleans, 125 millimeters. That was a record set for a daily record as rainfall there. Came about 5.5 or so inches in that region. And you notice the forecast still puts down 100-115 mm over this region. It continues off to the east the flooding threat now for hundreds of thousands if not millions of people across the southern U.S., with the remnants of this storm system.
So, incredible to think, a category 5. And I often say, with hurricanes, with tropical cyclones, 90 percent of the damage is from water, 10 percent of the damage and fatalities are from winds. So the water aspect of it still not done with for some people the U.S.
HOWELL: Just looking back, though, a day or so ago, though, Pedram, the simple fact that this was such a big storm and the damage is minimal. No lives lost.
JAVAHERI: It could have been far worse.
HOWELL: Yes, certainly could have. Pedram, thank you so much. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, part of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians
is playing out in an olive grove. We'll show you how volunteers from Israel and elsewhere are trying to stem the fight over West Bank olive trees. The story as this broadcast continues around the world this hour on CNN International and CNN USA.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Good to have you with us. I'm George Howell.
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HOWELL (voice-over): The headlines we are following this hour: a rescue effort has concluded off the coast of Canada's Vancouver Island after a whale watching boat sank. Officials say five people are dead, 21 rescued. And one is still missing of the 27 people who were on board that boat. The cause of the capsizing still under investigation.
Leaders from the European Union and the Balkans have agreed on a plan to manage the flow of migrants from Greece through the Balkans and up into Germany. The new measures came out of an emergency meeting in Brussels and include creating reception centers along the routes that migrants are taking.
South Korea's navy fired several warning shots at North Korean patrol boats and a boat that crossed a disputed maritime border. The North Korean vessel turned back without returning fire. A spokesman in Pyongyang said the boat was conducting a routine operation and called the incident a serious provocation.
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HOWELL: The skirmish at sea coincides with incredibly emotional moments on land, families wrenched apart by the Korean War got a very rare opportunity to see one another this weekend. Only about 20 of these meetings have ever been held. This time fewer than 200 families got to take part.
But more than 130,000 South Koreans have applied for the program since it started in the late 1980s.
Round one of the reunions began last week. And one part of North Korea, it's the part that's -- part of the deal, I should say, that was reached during high-level talks in August after an escalation of hostilities.
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HOWELL (voice-over): Here we see a pair of sisters consoling each other, the two siblings sharing a tight embrace. They have been separated for some 60 years. But there were also some lighter moments as well.
Here we see a beaming 82-year-old North Korean climbing the back of his South Korean -- climbing on the back, rather, of his South Korean nephew.
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HOWELL: To give you a sense of how pressure those moments are, we spoke to some Koreans now living in the U.S. Some have no idea of what has become of their long-lost loved ones. As our Kyung Lah reports, they would give anything to find out.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chicago, a world away from the isolation of North Korea, the hermit kingdom.
At the same time, it is not. There is a woman in this city whose life embodies the very horror that is the Korean War. Millions died in the war. But the people I'm looking for are still alive.
LAH: (Speaking Korean.) Hello.
LAH (voice-over): Like Un Chin Lee (ph); we found her in a senior center.
LAH: (Speaking Korean.) Nice to meet you.
LAH (voice-over): She hasn't seen her children in...
LAH: -- 65 years.
For her and others like her, this is the war with no end.
How old are you?
UN CHIN LEE, NORTH KOREAN MOTHER: 930.
LAH: 93 years old.
What year was it that you last --
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LAH: -- saw your children?
How old were they?
LAH (voice-over): 2, 5 and 7 years old.
"I left my children with my mother without saying good-bye," she says.
"I thought it would be a week.
"How much did they cry for me?
"How much did they want to see me?
"We have never even been able to talk."
LAH: It's not just this one woman's horrible story. There are so many others. I'm here in the Bay Area to meet another man. His name is Min Yong Lee, he's also elderly, also separated from his family since 1950. And that is so painful that he spent decades just trying to pretend that they don't exist.
MIN YONG LEE, NORTH KOREAN FATHER: In a way, I hate them in my mind.
LAH: But they're your siblings.
MIN: That's right. But it is too much pain to see those things. Hide my family background. That is the best way for me survive.
LAH: Did you know if they had survived, that they're alive?
MIN: Not at all.
LAH: You had no information?
MIN: No information.
LAH: You were just going to go to look for them.
MIN: Yes. And I saw my brother. The minute I recognized (INAUDIBLE), that the moment my brother, this is my brother.
LAH: Talk about this picture.
When you saw this face, what did you think?
MIN: I look at the mirror --
(LAUGHTER)
MIN: -- it was me. He was me.
So, so happy.
LAH: So you spent...?
MIN: Two night.
LAH: Two days?
MIN: Yes.
LAH: Two days with your brother?
MIN: Yes.
LAH: In 50 years, only two days? MIN: Yes. They allowed only that.
Met him, how lucky I am. How happy I am. I say pray to again I feel that bad.
LI: (Speaking Korean.)
LAH (voice-over): Back in Chicago, Ms. Li remains one of the unlucky. She tells me there is only one reason she is still alive.
"My children, I pray for the chance to see you. I'm holding on, living, hoping to see you. I visit you in my dreams.
"Please help me to see my children."
Bye-bye. Thank you.
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HOWELL: CNN's Kyung Lah reporting.
There has been more bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians, this time, at a checkpoint in the West Bank. That's where Israeli officers shot and killed a Palestinian woman. Police say she approached them, screaming and wielding a knife.
A Palestinian witness said there was no knife and described the woman as a 14-year-old girl.
Over the past few weeks, eight Israelis have been killed after being stabbed, shot or run over by Palestinians. Israel's security forces have killed at least 45 Palestinians, some during the attacks.
As tensions in the region intensify, olive trees, which are historically a symbol of peace, have become another thing Israelis and Palestinians are fighting over. West Bank olive groves have been the scene of attacks on Palestinian farmers.
But as Ben Wedeman reports, some Israelis and international volunteers are trying to promote peace, a peaceful harvest.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed with a knife, a masked man kicks and punches Rabbi Arik Ascherman on a West Bank hillside near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim. Over the years, Rabbi Ascherman has had many run-ins with settlers. He heads a group called Rabbis for Human Rights, which brings volunteers to help Palestinian farmers harvest their olives.
RABBI ARIK ASCHERMAN, RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: I think we have, of course, maybe the most, the government most supportive of the settlers ever. And I think that gives the message to settlers and other Israelis, who have that violent tendency, that they can get away with things.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Israeli police --
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): -- are investigating the incident.
Nearly 400,000 Israelis have settled throughout the West Bank, their settlements often on or near land where Palestinians have cultivated olive trees for generations. The settlers claim they are attacked and harassed by Palestinians.
What isn't in dispute is that the olive harvest is yet another time when tensions flare. The troubles that come with the annual olive harvest go to the very heart of this conflict.
Yes, religion does play a part in it. But at its very essence it is all about control of the land.
London resident David Amos comes to the West Bank village of Burin every year to help in the harvest. And last week, another masked settler beat him with stones during the harvest.
Israeli police acknowledge that, with the recent rise in tensions, there have been dozens of attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
DAVID AMOS, BRITISH VOLUNTEER: Because I am British, because I am international, then that is news. It makes me ashamed so that makes me angry.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Avo Ahmad (ph) witnessed the beating and complains that many such attacks have been under the eyes of the Israeli army.
"We are surrounded by the army and settlements," he says.
"And the settlers are protected by the army. They don't come without them."
Balel al-Eid (ph) brought his wife and son and other relatives to their olive grove in the shadow of an Israeli settlement. He insists, despite regular harassment, he is not going anywhere.
"Where can we go?" he asks.
"We aren't going to leave our village. We aren't going to give up our land. And the only way we will leave is if you shoot me and bury me here."
This year's olive harvest is expected to be average but, as always, one tinged with bitterness -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Burin on the West Bank.
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You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. They've traded places in the U.S. polls and now the gloves are off for the leading Republican presidential candidates. Coming up, what Donald Trump has to say about Ben Carson. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.
The top U.S. Democrats running for president spent the weekend trading barbs in the U.S. state of Iowa.
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HOWELL (voice-over): More than 6,000 people turned out for the big Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. The historic event is an early test to see who will win the most grassroots support ahead of the Iowa caucuses in early February. Bernie Sanders took the stage first and quickly went on the attack.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT.: And I pledge to you that every day I will fight for the public interest, not the corporate interest; I will not abandon any segment of American society, whether you are gay or black or Latino, poor working class, just because it is politically expedient at a given time.
HOWELL (voice-over): And before the dinner there, pop star Katy Perry showed her support for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton at a brief campaign rally. Clinton later tweeted that Perry brought the campaign dress code to the next level.
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HOWELL: Leading Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, he says that he wasn't always the soft-spoken person that he is now. Carson talked about the violent tendencies that he had while growing up in the city of Detroit. Listen.
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DR. BEN CARSON, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a teenager, I would go after people with rocks and bricks and baseball bats and hammers and, of course, many people know the story when I was 14 and I tried to stab someone.
And, fortunately, you know, my life has been changed. And I am a very different person now.
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HOWELL: Carson was responding to attacks from former Iowa front- runner Donald Trump on a number of political shows on Sunday. Mr. Trump called Carson, quote, "weak on immigration;" he said that he couldn't manage trade the way Trump could and called Carson "low energy," as he has called Jeb Bush. As for his new second-place status in Iowa, Trump had this to say.
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DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: I just don't understand the number. But you know what, I accept the number. It means I have to work a little bit harder in Iowa. I think it is just the same. I am going to make our country great again. We're going to do trade pacts that are incredible instead of incompetent because what we have right now with China, with Japan, with everybody is just incredible.
Nobody can do like -- nobody is going to be able to do what I do in terms of making our country wealthy again so we can do all the things we want to do, including the military and vets and taking care of people. So I'm just going to have to work a little bit harder in Iowa.
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HOWELL: The Republicans are set to hold their next presidential debate on Wednesday.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come -- the business of Bond. We get an inside look at how 007's style and gadgets have evolved with the times and the taste of his fans.
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HOWELL (voice-over): A lot of people will be going to see this film. James Bond returns to the silver screen with "Spectre," the 24th film of the popular spy series. The new movie will be released in the U.S. in early November. But its glittering premiere is set for Monday night in London.
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HOWELL: The world's most famous spy is seen as a style icon around the world, one that many brands hope to cash in on. Isa Soares takes a look at how 007 has adapted to the times and tastes of audiences over the film's 43-year history.
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blink and you'll miss it: 7-Up, Seiko (ph), British Airways among the first product placements to feature in a Bond movie, launching a trend that turned into a lucrative relationship between Bond and brands.
SOARES: Talk to us a bit about what brands get out of the franchise and what does the franchise get out of the big brand? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When a brand ties in with James Bond what they tie
in with a property that will have global reach, and it's also an identity and a personality that kind of says a lot about the brand. And what, what the production get out of it is brands who are willing to promote their association with James Bond on a global scale.
SOARES (voice-over): There have been many. Take "Die Another Day;" the 2002 movie alone features as many as 20 brand partners, from champagne to cars to watches.
They all have stood the test of time.
Others, though, have faced criticism for diluting the traditional sophisticated Bond image. Many 007 fans feel shaken and not stirred after Bond's move to drinking Heineken in "Skyfall."
If you are a Bond fan, well, do not despair. Bond is reportedly returning to his drink of choice, a martini, in "Spectre," this after Belvedere Vodka, owned by LVMH, signed a partnership deal for undisclosed sum.
In the upcoming movie, Belvedere is among 14 official brand partners, all vying for the attention of mostly savvy male Millennials, who don't mind seeing products on the big screen.
PROF. JAMES CHAPMAN, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER: I think if the product placement is too obvious or too excessive then people can take against it. It is seen as a sort of crass --
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CHAPMAN: -- commercialism and distracting from the narrative.
But many say in a subtle way or maybe in a rather ironic way, incorporated in the film in a way that we associate with James Bond I think audiences appreciate it.
SOARES (voice-over): With each incarnation, the enigmatic spy has evolved with the times and so have the products he uses, mirroring the changing tastes of his fans.
While the secretive deals between 007 and advertisers are worthy of an MI-6 operation, it is no secret that this is a priceless partnership for both -- Isa Soares, CNN, London.
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HOWELL: Ukraine held elections on Sunday. Local positions around the country were up for grabs. And Ukraine's Internet Party, running on a platform of easy access to technology, fielded some of the most unusual candidates like this one, Darth Vader, seen here Friday in Odessa, he was attending the unveiling of a monument bearing his likeness there.
Really got his dark side there. It replaces a statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. We thank you for watching this hour CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell
at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I will be back after the break with another hour of news from around the world.
You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.
