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China Ends "One Child" Policy; Relief Calls for Iraqi Prisoner; Climate Change in Arctic Norway; Astronaut Scott Kelly Breaks Record; Countries Meet to Discuss Syrian Civil War; MI5 Chief: Terror Threat is Highest He's Seen; Passenger Jet Catches Fire Before Takeoff; Video Gives Inside View of Texas Biker Brawl; Jeb Bush Admits Bad Debate Performance; Rainfall Helps Clear Haze in Southeast Asia. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 30, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:22] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Key players getting together in Vienna, looking for ways to end the crisis in Syria. The main question, how to deal with Bashar al Assad.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: The end of the biggest population control experiment of our time. What is next after China ends its one child policy?
HOWELL: Remember this? Inside the deadly shootout at a Texas restaurant. CNN has the exclusive video when bullets started flying between rival biker gangs.
ALLEN: Also ahead, the passenger airplane that caught on fire on a Florida runway.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the word. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell, from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
And good day to you. We begin this hour with the high-level talks that are playing out in Vienna. Diplomats there are set to resume talks in just a couple hours' time on the complex civil war inside Syria.
ALLEN: 18 nations, plus the European Union were invited to the meeting, and for the first time, Iran is sitting at the table as well.
The country's foreign minister, Nawaz Sharif, had this to say about Iran's invitation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAWAZ SHARIF, IRAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We believe Iran is a government and country that has been a positive force in the region. You cannot put conditions on Iran's presence in the talks. Therefore no conditions were placed on our attendance at these talks. If there had been, we would not have accepted that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: A look at some of the other key players in the critical talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has described the situation in Syria as, quote, "hell." His Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, is attending as his country's role in the conflict intensifies.
ALLEN: Saudi Arabia is also there, a backer of the opposition to President al Assad is also there, and Turkey, another country, battling the spillover from the war next door.
ALLEN: For more, let's go live, off to Moscow. CNN's Nic Robertson standing by.
Nic, good to have you with us.
Western powers at the table and they insist Bashar al Assad insists he must go. We know where Russia and Iran stand on this. Is there talk how these nations can strike any sort of deal when they're so clearly divided on this single critical issue?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There is a Russian perspective. I was asking two days ago. They believe that the United States and the others in opposition to {resident al Assad are no longer saying simply Assad must go, but now, believe that he could be there as -- as a sort of a transition figure. So, there is perhaps some wiggle room of understanding there. How long is that transition? What replaces him? What is the process to make it happen? Russians are insisting the war has to be, has to stop first or terrorism has to be defeated first. That's the way that they're framing it. Having spoken also to Syrian politicians involved in the periphery, but also talking with Russians about this as well, and I would couch them as being the moderate opposition. Russia is ready to see Assad go during transition. The question now is, is Iran? Iran is the country that those talks most wedded to Assad, it sees its national security, as senior military commander in Iran said in the last few days, intertwined with Syria. They've committed troops, money. And they see Bashar al Assad as a vital ally linking them to their ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. So, yes, that issue of Assad, transition, can he, will he go. And there is one other point of agreement, and everyone agrees, that ISIS is a danger to Syria and the region as well -- George?
HOWELL: Nic, let's talk more about Iran. The fact that Iran has been invited to the table, a dramatic shift in U.S. policy, or does this have more to do with Russia's influence in the situation?
[02:05:] ROBERTSON: Certainly an evolution in the U.S. position. If we go back to the Geneva talks, Iran was excluded. The United States is in the position in Vienna of invited Iran. It does seem Russia's military intervention began in Syria a month ago to this day. The military momentum they have sort of created or are trying to give the appearance of creating on the ground they have tried to build on to create a political momentum. That perhaps has a lot to do with what, how they're trying to portray this issue, how they're trying to play it domestically. But it does seem their military intervention followed by the political push has brought about these talks or played a large role in it. For their part, Russia said all along that Iran should be at the talks. Sergei Lavrov met in Nawaz Sharif yesterday in Vienna. When coming out, Lavrov was asked, how did the talks go, he used one word, "Perfect." I've think we can expect the talks during today to be slightly less than perfect -- George?
HOWELL: All eyes on the talks.
Nic Robertson live in Moscow. Nic, thank you for the reporting and context.
ALLEN: The top spy in the U.S. says Russian President Vladimir Putin is, quote, "winging it" in Syria. Director of national intelligence, James Clapper, spoke exclusively with CNN's Jim Sciutto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: You are expected to know that a decision has been made by a foreign head of state before he makes it. Putin's case in point. I think he is very impulsive, very opportunistic. It is a debate. But I personally question whether he had some long term strategy or whether he is working, you know, being very opportunistic on a day-to-day basis. And I think his intervention into Syria is a manifestation of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Clapper also told Jim the U.S. intelligence community was not surprised when Russia started to launch air strikes in Syria a month ago.
HOWELL: In the U.K., the head of the British intelligence agency says his country is facing unprecedented security problem, a three- dimensional terror threat from Syria.
HOWELL: During a rare public speech in London, MI5 Chief Andrew Parker said that ISIS and ISIS-inspired terrorists are planning attacks to result in mass casualties at home, overseas and online. His speech comes ahead of an important parliamentary debate.
CNN's Diana Magnay explains from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are two take-aways from Parker's comments, what he says and the fact that he is saying it. This is the head of MI5, Britain's domestic spy agency, and this is somebody who doesn't normally talk. The reason, he wants the public behind him behind him for a debate due to take place in parliament next week on greater powers for intelligence and security agencies in cyberspace. He says technology moved faster than the legal framework, that there are dark corners of the web where terrorists are having conversations, where intelligence agencies, even with the legal warrants, don't have the technical wherewithal because of encryption to monitor what is going on. He wants greater powers of surveillance. This is something Internet service providers, telecom companies have huge problems with. So does privacy watch dogs. The target issues like privacy, civil liberties. That is why the U.K. parliament will be debating it next week. That's why he wants to make clear that the threat is real and growing.
Diana Magnay, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: We are going to move to a runway in Florida. How about the video? And how about --
HOWELL: Scary.
ALLEN: -- the airplane. What happened before it was set to take off? This airplane caught fire and 17 people were injured, including a child, as they quickly exited.
HOWELL: Look at all of the smoke from the plane. The engine of the 767 burst into flames moments before the plane was street to take off for Venezuela.
CNN's Randi Kaye has more on what want wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pilot with a keen eye notices a sign of trouble, fuel leaking from the plane taxiing in front of him, Dynamic Airways flight 405. He radios it in.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
PILOT: Hey, Dynamic, out on the left engine, it looks like it's leaking a lot of -- I don't know if it's fuel. There is a fluid leaking out of the left engine.
(END VIDEO FEED)
KAYE: Air traffic controllers contact flight 405.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Dynamic 405, do you copy?
PILOT: Yes, sir, we copy. We probably need to go back to the ramp.
(END AUDIO FEED)
KAYE: But before they could --
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire!
(END AUDIO FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our rescue united received a call at 12:34 for a reported engine fire aboard the jet. Our units deployed. Within two minutes, our first units were on scene.
KAYE: There, they find a Boeing 767 on fire right on the runway at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Thick black smoke spewing out of the jet's left side and into the sunny Florida sky. All of it forcing an evacuation of the 101 passengers and crew. The jet's emergency slides are deployed. Within minutes, everyone is out. Some lucky enough to simply walk away. Others were taken on stretchers and wheelchairs. More than a dozen were taken to the hospital, one with serious burns.
Meantime, fire crews doused the plane with water and special white foam to knock the fire down. It covers the tarmac but leaves the plane's burned-out left engine on full display.
The plane was taxiing out for takeoff, on its way from Florida to Venezuela when the engine suddenly caught fire.
Passengers on other airplanes nearby captured the terrifying scene.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYE: Posting pictures and video on Twitter. Many writing simply, "Plane on fire."
Both runways were closed. The airport shutdown until late afternoon when the north runway is reopened. At least 111 flights delayed, nearly 50 canceled.
(on camera): And we're learning more about Dynamic Airways. It only started about five years ago. It has two international destinations from the U.S., one to Venezuela, where this plane was going, and the other to Ghana.
This particular plane we've learned is 29 years old. We don't know if the engine that caught fire is the same age or maybe it had been replaced. We tried calling the airline for comments but they would not comment at all.
Reporting from Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, I'm Randi Kaye. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: An update on a story we covered a while back, a biker brawl in Texas left nine people dead. Now we have exclusive video showing the shootout back in may from inside the restaurant. We'll have that in a moment.
HOWELL: Scary moments there.
Plus, U.S. House of Representatives, it has a new speaker of the House, replacing the departing speaker, John Boehner, known for his emotional speeches, and this time he came prepared with a box of tissues.
ALLEN: Also, U.S. presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, wants to connect with voters after what some are calling a flop of a performance in the third Republican debate. It is all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:14:38]KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.
We'll witness history Saturday when either New Zealand or Australia become Rugby World Cup champion for a record third time. The defending champs, the All Blacks, have named an unchanged lineup containing seven players from the 2011 championship. For the (INAUDIBLE), the only change is the return of Scott Theo. He missed the semifinal win over Argentina after injuring his elbow a week earlier.
Chelsea football club making headlines. This time, reports are they're being sued by the former club doctor. The doctor left Chelsea after being removed from first team duties by the manager. He labeled her naive when she ran on to the pitch to treat a player during the season opener with Chelsea, temporarily reducing the Blues to nine men.
Flavia Pennetta extremely gracious in defeat after losing to Maria Sharapova at the WTA finals in Singapore. The loss brings an end to the Italian's career. She announced her decision to retire after making history at Flushing Meadows last month. Her stunning U.S. Open win made Pennetta the oldest first time major winner ever. She called the loss to Sharapova a perfect way to end her career.
That's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: We have dramatic video. It shows one of the bloodiest afternoons in the history of American motorcycle clubs.
HOWELL: First, this is what it looked like as police were making 200 arrests. Two rival clubs got into a deadly shootout at a suburban restaurant in Waco, Texas. Nine people were killed. But here's the thing. At this point, no one has been charged for the people who were killed.
ALLEN: Ed Lavandera of CNN walks us through the video and shares new details from the police report.
We want to warn you, some viewers might find the video disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the scene inside the Twin Peaks restaurant in May just before the violent shootout that killed nine people and ended up in the mass arrest of 177 bikers. A fight and shootout erupts just off camera between a group of motorcycle clubs called the Bandidos and the Cossacks. The reaction tells the story of the chaos and horrific scene that unfolds as the gunshots start exploding.
Members of the Cossacks club are sitting on this patio. They duck for cover. Some grab other weapons. One biker is seen on the video running through the patio and firing a shot toward the parking lot. Dozens of bikers rush inside the building, hide in bathrooms and the restaurant kitchen.
John Wilson is the president of the Waco, Texas, chapter of the Cossacks motorcycle club. He was on the Twin Peaks patio that day.
JOHN WILSON, CHAPTER PRESIDENT, WACO, TEXAS, COSSACKS CLUB: The whole incident probably didn't last more than 90 seconds. It seemed like an hour when you're laying there and people are getting shot around you and bullets are whizzing by you.
LAVANDERA: In dozens of police interviews, Cossacks and Bandidos bike club members blame rivals for starting the melee. After it was all over crime scene photos capture the nightmarish scene. Bodies left in the parking lot by toppled motorcycles, hundreds of weapons all over the place. Handguns left hidden in the restaurant toilets.
CNN has obtained more than 2,000 pages of documents, crime scene photos, many too graphic to show, and surveillance video of what unfolded last May.
Waco police and prosecutors have consistently defended the mass arrests of the 177 bikers that day all charged with organized criminal activity.
SGT. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO, TEXAS, POLICE DEPARTMENT: I think you can see by the number of weapons that we have recovered from here today they didn't come here to eat and have a good time with their family. They came here for a reason we think part of that reason was a criminal activity.
LAVANDERA: But many of the bikers and their attorneys say investigators and prosecutors overreacted by carrying out mass arrests. Some say videos show the vast majority are innocent of the criminal charges.
SUSAN ANDERSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They just arrested everybody before they determined who was involved.
LAVANDERA: These are just some of the videos investigators are using to piece together what happened that day five months ago, a shootout that one witness said looked like the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: That's just -- that's just sickening to see. And too many scenes like that of course in the United States.
HOWELL: Really unfortunate.
ALLEN: Yes.
HOWELL: There are talks about things should be done, can be done. Have to see what happens with these things reoccur so many times.
In Washington, the U.S. House of Representatives formally elected its new speaker, Representative Paul Ryan. The 45-year-old Republican from Wisconsin says he will try to unite a divided House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:19:56] REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: To me, the House of Representatives represents what's best of America, the boundless opportunity to do good. But let's be frank, the House is broken. We are not solving problems. We are adding to them. And I am not interested in laying blame. We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Ryan replaces John Boehner, who has become known in part for crying publicly. He came prepared this time with a box of tissues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I leave with no regrets, no burdens. If anything, I leave the way I started. I'm just a regular guy, humbled by the chance to do a big job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Boehner left the new speaker a parting gift. Wednesday, the House approved a budget deal -- thank goodness -- which eliminates the possibility of default. If you are wondering, he did shed a tear or two.
HOWELL: He had the tissues this time. Good for Mr. Boehner.
Let's take a live look now at the U.S. Senate. At this point, he's still taking -- talking, I should say, but lawmakers have just voted to break Republican Presidential Candidate Rand Paul's filibuster of an $80 billion budget agreement. Raise the debt ceiling and lower the risk of government shutdown in December.
ALLEN: On the campaign trail, Jeb Bush is in damage control. Critics say he didn't deliver during a debate Thursday. During a conference call with donors, he admitted he could have done better.
HOWELL: Two people on the call tell CNN Mr. Bush says his campaign is A-OK.
Brianna Keilar has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jeb Bush is back on the trail today trying to connect with New Hampshire voters. JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: It's about fixing problems. It's about solving problems. It's about bringing people together rather than tearing them apart.
It's not about the big personalities on the stage. It's not about performance. It's about leadership. And the leader today in this country needs to be unifier.
KEILAR: This, after critics, including many Republicans, are panning his third debate performance.
BUSH: I'm running with heart. I'm not a performer. If they're looking for an entertainer in chief, I'm probably not the guy.
KEILAR: Bush struggled to make a mark and gave Marco Rubio a huge opening.
BUSH: Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term. You should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate, what is it look a French workweek, you get three days you have to show up.
(LAUGHTER)
You can campaign or just resign. Let some one else take the job.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record.
The only reason why you are doing it now is because we're running for same position. And someone has convinced you that attacking me will help you.
KEILAR: An exchange that must have stung more coming from a man Bush mentored and helped get elected to the Senate.
BUSH: The most principled, centered leader I know, Marco Rubio.
KEILAR: But five years a and presidential campaign later --
BUSH: His record of attendance was low prior to his announcement of his campaign. I just think that's wrong.
KEILAR: Bush, the once presumed front-runner, who has raised $25 million from his campaign and is back by a super PAC that has hauled in $100 million, has had to cut payroll costs by 40 percent and has dropped sharply in the polls.
BUSH: It's not on life support. We have the most money, the greatest organization. We are doing fine.
KEILAR: Now some political observers are saying that Bush's presidential prospects are doomed, even as he tries to project confidence he can make a come back.
BUSH: There are two types of politicians, the talkers and the doers. I wish I could talk as well as some of the people on the stage, the big personalities on the stage. But I am a doer.
KEILAR: Brianna Keilar, CNN, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Wind and rain are helping to disperse some of the thick haze which has blanketed Southeast Asia for weeks.
ALLEN: The haze is the result of illegal intentional wildfires set on the island to clear the land, once again, for the production of pulp, paper and palm oil. Certainly controversial.
With more on the developing story, let's turn to CNN's David Molko. He's live for us in Indonesia.
Hello, David.
DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Natalie. We have been talking for weeks about the fires. They have sickened so many people. Upward of 500,000 to 40 million across Indonesia. Smog from Thailand to the Philippines. Natalie it all starts here in the lands of the central region. We were out with firefighters. We have video to show you. Our cameraman climbing aboard the fire truck races to the scene just outside the city of a quarter million people. The tricky part was, once they got here, not what you would expect with flames at the surface. The carbon rich soil releases greenhouse gasses, smolders, burns below the surface. While spraying with water, spraying it with chemicals, trying to knock the spots down, it could pick up. It's raining this afternoon. We have seen the land smoking once again. It's great to see the efforts, the commitment. Experts here in Indonesia say water bombing and firefighters on the ground just aren't what they need. What they need, Natalie, a whole lot of rain.
[02:25:43] ALLEN: Yeah. Clean air once again for the people there not to mention endangered animals in the region as well.
David Molko for us. Thank you so much.
HOWELL: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. And still to come this hour, China announces an end to one of the world's biggest attempts at social engineering. We'll explain.
ALLEN: Also ahead, an imprisoned Saudi blogger wins a top human rights award, but his family says it expects his punishment of 1,000 lashes to start up again soon. We'll have his story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell.
The headlines this hour, new talks aimed at ending Syrian civil war resume in a few hours time. Iran attending the crisis meetings for the first time as well, joining diplomats from the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other nations. The Syrian government and the Syrian opposition though will not have seats at the table.
[02:30:05] ALLEN: Terrifying moments for passengers on board this commercial jet in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida as the plane caught fire on the runway short before it was set to take off. More than a dozen people were injured as they scrambled out of the exits of the Dynamic International Airways airplane.
HOWELL: Scary moments.
The head of the British intelligence agency says his country is facing an unprecedented terror threat. During a rare public speech, MI5 chief, Andrew Parkers, said ISIS extremists are planning attacks to result in mass casualties against the U.K. at home, overseas and online. His comments come ahead of a crucial parliamentary debate on beefing up communications and surveillance.
ALLEN: For decades, China's Communist government has restricted most families to just one child. But now, couples will be allowed two children.
HOWELL: Officials say it's because of an aging population. And in 15 years, its estimated China will have more than 400 million people over the age of 60. The One Child policy began in the 1970s to control population growth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY SACHS, DIRECTOR, EARTH INSTITUTE: China had a runaway population. It is, by far, so crowded and densely populated. It had a real issue. From the time that this policy was enacted, the population has gone up 400 million people. So, I think, one has to understand the context of this. Now, China's population is stable. And thank goodness. The stresses on the environment are enormous. The water stresses and other challenges of climate change and so on. China has succeeded in stabilizing the populations. It could gently decline in later decades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Undoubtedly, this was a controversial control policy that had a heavy price to pay. Government data shows, since 1971, doctors performed 336 million legally mandated abortions, sterilized 196 million men and women, and inserted 403 million intrauterine devices.
ALLEN: Another impact, an estimated 13 million sp-called ghosts in China. These are people born without any official documentation.
Steven Jiang joins me live from Beijing. Steven grew up in Shanghai after the restriction began.
Steven, you have personal experience. Talk about the impact the One Child law has had. And now, why China is changing it?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, it was actually surreal yesterday when I was a reporting this breaking news, as a member of the first generation of the policy talking end of the same policy. Now, when I was growing up in Shanghai in the 1980s, we just accepted this policy as a matter of fact. We were taught about it in school. And we had to be tested on, about this policy in exams. We were also buying the government line that millions of prevented births helped China grow its economy and improve the people's livelihood. Not until years later that I found out the more sinister, the darker side of the policy. Brutal enforcements in the countryside, forced abortions, and forced sterilizations and things like that.
But you know, there are activists and NGOs who dedicated years to try to get this policy abolished. Now the change has come. Probably not because of the reasons they had hoped for. The government has made it very clear. The party made it clear. The reason they're doing this now is to address demographic shifts. Double whammy, shrinking work force and aging society at a time when the economy is slowing down. The party in a document after a fur day leadership meeting saying they're making one couple, Two Children policy. To address the issue of aging population and support more balanced and growth -- Natalie?
ALLEN: Steven, your story is interesting. The way you were taught in school. Had no idea it went into the schools like that. What's the reaction from people? They were used to this one thing. They, they might not have liked it. Now all of a sudden, it's changed. And will people change with it.
JIANG: Natalie, the irony is, if the party, the government goal is to reverse that demographic change, it's unlikely it is going to happen any time soon. Remember, the state has been tweaking the policy. Two years ago started testing the water, by allowing some couples, those with one spouse, as a single child to have a single child. Very few people took up the offer. The reason, the high cost of raising children here. I talked to many people back then. I've talked to many of them again with the latest announcement. They said they cannot afford to have a second child. They have done the math. Going through pregnancy, putting a child to school, is way beyond their means. In the short term, this new policy change is unlikely to changing the population growth trend.
[02:35:45] ALLEN: A very interesting story.
Steven Jiang, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
HOWELL: From China to Iraq. Heavy rain caused flooding in the capital during a normally dry time of year.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now to tell us more about that.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, right, George and Natalie. As if displaced Iraqis don't have enough to contend with, we have significant amount of rainfall in what is typically a dry time of the year. Take a look at some video coming out of the region. See what they have had to contend with. Pushing vehicles through the flooded streets. Not only the flooding a concern. Also health hazard for the individuals living within this area. Take a look at the satellite loop. See the thunderstorms that moved through Baghdad, western sections of Iran late Thursday. Satellite derived rainfall indicates between 30. 50. Upwards of 70 millimeters of rain. We would experience five to eight millimeters during the month of October. Typically, a dry time of the year. All thanks to a slow moving storm system. Moving east of Baghdad. Will bring potential of flooding to Tehran and Iran, anywhere from 50 to 75 millimeters of additional rainfall. Something we'll monitor into the weekend coming off the potential of flooding.
Transitioning to the common holiday to celebrate across much of the world, Halloween. October 31st, believe it or not, a near miss as an asteroid that will fly close to here on planet earth. This is Asteroid TB 145. Doctor this up. Off to make it look like a jack-o'- lantern. Not what it looks like. It is not a trick. What I am talking about, more of a treat. You can look yourself with a telescope. Go outside and see this with your eye. Something you might want to kid. Make your way outside early Saturday morning.
To put this into perspective, 400 meters wide. Roughly the same height as the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. Now, also put this into further perspective, precariously close to the planet. Half a million miles away, 310,000 miles away from our orbit. This is close. Little too close for comfort, if you ask me. Not a trick, more of a treat. Get outside. That low, George. A lot of the budding astronomers out there love to see this, take their telescope into the backyard, point it into the sky Saturday morning. Perhaps see a treat in the skies.
Back to you.
ALLEN: Why not?
Thank you very much, Derek. Very interesting.
HOWELL: Thanks, Derek.
ALLEN: Next on CNN NEWSROOM, a close-up look at Arctic Norway. Some are questioning about its threats due to climate change. We'll have a special report for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:42:02] HOWELL: The European parliament voted to protect Edward Snowden, recognizing him as a whistleblower and a defender of human rights.
ALLEN: By a close margin, lawmakers voted for a resolution that urges member nations to drop criminal charges against Snowden and prevent his extradition. The vote has no legal force. The former contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency leaked documents about secret mass data collection programs in the U.S. On Twitter, Snowden called the vote "a game changer."
HOWELL: Sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, the family of a Saudi blogger fears the flogging will start up again soon. The punishment has been pushed back though since January.
ALLEN: Really surreal isn't it. The European parliament awarded Raif Badawi the Sakharov prize for human rights and renewed calls for his relief.
More on his story from Becky Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The scenes that sparked a global outcry. Cell phone video believed to be showing the Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, getting lashed in January. Now, the 31- year-old is being awarded European parliament's Sakharov Human Rights Prize in recognition of his contribution to human rights and democracy.
MARTIN SCHULZ, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT (through translation): In the case of Mr. Badawi, fundamental human rights are not only not being respected, they have been stepped on. So I would like to call on the king to stop the execution of the sentence and to release Mr. Badawi to allow him to go back to his wife and to allow him to travel here for the December session to receive this prize.
ANDERSON: Badawi was sentenced to a total of 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison in 2012. His charges include cybercrime and insulting Islam through his Saudi Arabian Liberals website. He often blogged about free speech and the conservative kingdom.
His first flogging sparked an international outcry. Saudi authorities suspended the punishment on medical ground.
But hopes for leniency were dashed when the Saudi Arabian supreme court upheld his verdict in June.
Speaking to me shortly after the case first came to public attention, his wife had this message for Saudi Arabia's leadership.
UNIDENTIFIED WIFE OF RAIF BADAWI: Raif did not do anything. Raif was not armed. Raif's weapon was just his pen.
ANDERSON: A pen that landed him behind bars but now may help raise more awareness about his cause for freedom of speech in his country.
Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:45:00] ALLEN: "Two Degrees Celsius," the most crucial number of our times. If average global temperatures rise above it, we are at risk for serious global.
HOWELL: That's what they say. Just in one month, thousand of people from nearly 200 countries will meet in Paris to discuss and debate this very issue with the United Nations Conference of Parties on climate change, known as COP 21.
Ahead of that critical meeting, we sent Arwa Damon to Arctic Norway to see how changes in the climate impacted that area.
ALLEN: What she discovered may surprise you. Here it is. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's late October in the Arctic, freezing cold and snow-covered, as one would expect. So much just isn't the way it used to be.
JIM JOHANNSEN, ARCTIC TOUR GUIDE: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
(CROSSTALK)
DAMON: Jim Johannsen is a guide here, taking visitors on a tour which includes a glacier. For him, compared to last year, the changes on the shoreline are obvious.
JOHANNSEN: Last year, you could hardly see the rock formation. Hardly see that as a gray, brown line underneath the glacier. It is shedding a lot of ice this summer. Obviously it's, something is happening for sure.
DAMON: That something is climate change. And this, the Arctic is ground zero. Scientists say temperatures here have increased at twice the rate than anywhere else on earth in the last several decades.
(on camera): Normally, by March, these would be frozen over, a layer of ice so thick people would take their snowmobiles from town to outlying areas. But the last time these waters froze was a decade ago.
(voice-over): We are out with a former fisherman, a Marine biologist and managing director of the university center.
A good catch.
But this cod species is not supposed to be here. They appeared three years ago. That's because the temperature of the water where these cod were pulled out is four to five degrees warmer than it to be and now the cod can swim here.
(on camera): How do you know that temperature rises because of climate change?
UNIDENTIFIED MARINE BIOLOGIST: We know temperatures in this water in the western side are very, very, because of the variations in the northeast Atlantic current. That's all. Now we see it on the line. Being more and more evident that it is due to our general rise in the sea temperature of the world oceans.
DAMON: Earth's climate is changing. Scientists still trying to unravel its mystery and determine how it will alter our future.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Norway.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: And we will have more stories on climate change in the next few weeks in the lead up to the Cop 21 talks that will take place in Paris.
Astronaut Scott Kelly an out-of-the-world milestone.
HOWELL: What he has to say about his flight into the record books, as CNN NEWSROOM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:49:49] VAN DAM: Good day. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, with a quick look at your "Weather Watch."
(WEATHER REPORT)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: Most of us can barely stand being at work eight hours a day.
Not us, of course.
(LAUGHTER)
Some of you, perhaps.
One U.S. astronaut hit a milestone high above the earth. Been at work a long time. Scott Kelly has now broken a U.S. record for the most times in space on a single mission, 216 days, to help research how space travel and long duration can affect the human body during that time. During that time, he snapped selfies in orbit.
HOWELL: Also on Twitter from the space station. After breaking the record, he wrote, "It is an honor to be here." And said he looked forward to making progress in space. Mr. Kelly has taken to Twitter quite a bit during his time of in space, documenting moments and sharing these photos.
If you are watching up there, Mr. Kelly, congratulations.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: He's taken really great pictures of the storms we have had, even the huge hurricane in Mexico.
Now we turn it to the dogs. The English bulldog who skateboarded to a Guinness world record has died, sad to say, at age of 10. Tillman became a celebrity after a video of him skateboarding went viral. It even went on to be part of an iPhone commercial. Oh, look at that. In 2009, the world record for the fastest skateboarding dog.
HOWELL: The things he could do. Tillman enjoyed suffering and snow boarding. His owner said he never managed to get around to teaching the bulldog traditional canine tricks.
Look at him go.
ALLEN: He would have none of the sit and stay.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: He only lived 10 year but what a life he lived.
HOWELL: Absolutely.
Thursday -- switching from dogs to cats, Thursday was National Cat Day in the United States.
ALLEN: The Internet is always full of funny videos from prideful cat owners.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For cat people -- every day is National Cat Day. But instead of staying home and clipping your cat, imagine watching cat clips. A hundred of them at Berkeley Performance Center in Boston.
We're talking masterpieces like "The Cat in the Lamb."
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: Or the cat trying to catch its tail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is it?
MOOS: Then falls off the couch looking for it.
Or cat versus printer.
Most of the clips are known as YouTube videos that give the impression cats might not care about National Cat Day or us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, Rene, come on out.
[02:55:05] MOOS: I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to shell out $12 for a ticket to see action like this?
Or to hear a cat say in Portuguese while getting a shower, "It hurts."
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: These videos were first screened at International Cat Video Festival.
(MUSIC)
MOOS: From hover cat to the existentialism of Henri, the black cat. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MOOS (on camera): And though cats may be top dog this week, that didn't stop George and Amal Clooney from adopting her. Meet Millie Clooney.
(voice-over): The couple stopped by San Gabriel Human Society unannounced. They spotted Millie on Pet Finder and brought along their other shelter dog to see if the two would get along.
Millie went from being rescued, scrounging for food outside a restaurant, to being a basset whose only worry is being hounded by the paparazzi.
Ain't that the cat's meow.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Well, we have gone to the dogs and cats. That will do it for this hour.
HOWELL: The purr-fect way to end the show. Yes, it was corny.
More after the break.
ALLEN: It's all right, George.
(LAUGHTER)
