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Focus on Black Boxes to Solve Russian Jet Crash; Terrorists Active, Doubts ISIS Brought down MetroJet Active; Historical Meeting of China, Taiwan Presidents; Trump Releases Book, Goes on Offensive; Ohioans Rejects Oligarchic Marijuana Legislation; Houston Votes Against Law to Protect LGBT; Takata, Japanese Post Influencing Tokyo's Nikkei; Greece Sends Migrants to Other Countries; Fog Blankets Part of U.S., Europe; NASA Study: Lower Sea Levels in Antarctica. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 04, 2015 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:13] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The mystery surrounding the downing of the Russian passenger plane is growing. New evidence shows the tail may have broken off in midair.

Plus, it's one for the record books. The presidents of China and Taiwan have not had a meeting in more than 60 years, but they will meet this weekend.

And later, Trump is on the attack, calling on the Republican rivals to drop out of the race.

Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin in the Sinai Peninsula where investigators are finishing up their field work at the wreckage of MetroJet flight 9268. Russian state media say the tail is sitting five kilometers, or three miles, from the rest of the debris, an indication the plane came apart midair.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo is warning its employees to stay away from the Sinai Peninsula while the investigation is under way as a precautionary measure.

Meantime, Egyptian authorities and representatives from the airline both said there was no hint that the plane was in trouble until after it crashed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER SMIRNOV, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, METROJET (through translation): The Airbus A-320 is a very reliable plane which has protection systems that won't let the plane to go into overload even if there were major errors in the pilot's controlled equipment.

HOSSAM KAMAL (ph), EGYPTIAN AVIATION MINISTER (through translation): If the pilot doesn't report any faults on the plane, all that will be carried out is routine maintenance checks. Up until the crash happened, we were never informed of any faults in the plane, nor did we receive any SOS calls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And now the focus is turning to the so-called black boxes. Maybe those devices can resolve the inconsistencies investigators keep turning up.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, another tough day for the families of victims, the process of identifying the bodies continues. What they are hearing in Russian media at the moment, two different versions of potentially what killed their loved ones. Did the plane break apart in the air because the tail section fell off because of a faulty repair to a tail strike, an accident to the air frame two years ago, or was it because of a bomb on board? A St. Petersburg newspaper, the oldest here in St. Petersburg, widely respected, suggested the injuries fall into two categories. Those in the front of the air craft, they, say have burns injuries indicative of falling through the sky. Those at the back have explosive trauma injuries, pieces of metal fragments in the body. They're quoting their sources and, of course, here in St. Petersburg, the forensic teams are examining the bodies, the potential for more information is being provided. The TAS state news agency says what they understand from their sources is there's been no explosive residues found on the bodies, there's been no indication of explosive damage to the bodies. So what people are hearing in Russia and what will be very painful for the families right now is not knowing precisely what brought down that aircraft. Two different possibilities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And most experts are casting doubt on claims by ISIS that it brought down the MetroJet plane. But the terror group affiliate in Egypt has been active, as CNN's Ian Lee reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may be ISIS's least known affiliate, but the terror group's Sinai branch is deadly and sophisticated. Here, the aftermath of an attack against an army checkpoint in broad daylight.

(EXPLOSION)

LEE: In all, the group has killed hundreds in roadside bombings, drive-by shootings and suicide attacks.

Those survivors captured are brutally executed, including a Croatian oil field worker beheaded in August.

(SHOUTING)

LEE: ISIS and Egypt rose from the chaos of the Arab Spring and unleashed their wave of violence in 2013, not just in Egypt resistant Sinai region, but across the country.

The military and police carry out operations to hunt the militants down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been in operation for two years. And I don't think anybody, including within the Egyptian military thinks they're suddenly going to disappear.

LEE: It was late last year the terror group with numbers estimated in the low hundreds pledged allegiance to ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Their weapons mainly coming from Libya, another country rocked by instability and an ISIS presence.

(EXPLOSION)

[02:05:10] LEE: We've seen them target convoys with remote-detonated bombs while suicide bombers hit outposts and military bases.

The two most sophisticated weapons believed to be in their arsenal include Russian-made anti-tank missiles used in targeting tanks and a boat in the Mediterranean, and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles seen here taking down an Egyptian helicopter.

Analysts say what they don't possess are sophisticated missiles to take down a jet traveling over 30,000 feet like the Russian MetroJet flight 9268 that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula killing 224 people on board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Assuming ISIS has already claimed responsibility, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Indeed, it could be part of psychological warfare.

LEE: Indeed, both Russian and Egyptian officials have downplayed ISIS's claim that they took down the jet, saying it's more likely mechanical failure.

Ian Lee, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now to talk more about it is CNN's safety analyst, David Souci. He is also a former FAA safety inspector.

Thank you, sir, for being with us.

Now, the cause of this crash appears to be boiling down to earth a catastrophic mechanical failure or a bomb. With all the details that you have been able to put together so far, what's your sense now of what may have caused this Russian plane to crash in the Sinai?

DAVID SOUCI, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: It's very difficult at this point to make the distinction between the two. Even narrowing it to those two is dangerous in an accident investigation. But between the two, I'm leaning more towards a mechanical failure or a rupture of the frame itself, the fuselage itself than I am a bomb simply because the flash point, this infrared flash that they're reporting, the way it came across and at the point of flight that it came across would indicate that the aircraft came apart and slowed its movement and then went down forward. Typically in a bomb or an instantaneous rupture, the aircraft might even accelerate. So there's still a lot to be looked at and determined. But that's the way I'm leaning at this point, but they're very close.

CHURCH: And another piece of information that's coming out, the tail of that plane was found separated from the rest of the body of the plane. 23506 kilometers away, in fact. The largest piece of debris to be found. What does that tell you?

SOUCI: Well, it must have been at a very high altitude when this tail came off, which would be consistent with what we're learning from flight radar 24 and what we're learning from this flash point, when the flash actually occurred. So that would make sense that the tail came off separately. Another thing that supports that argument is the fact that there isn't really any burn residue that's obvious on the pictures. Now, there might be, if you look at it more closely, but it doesn't appear to be what you would normally see as burn residue on that tail. Which tells us that the tail may have come off before the exPLOsion which would be consistent with a crack or a fuselage rupture, the tail coming off and subsequently opening the fuel cell to cause that exPLOsion.

CHURCH: And interestingly, too, the inspection on the ground is going to be wrapped up Wednesday. Are you surprised that they are finishing up so early? And I do want to get your assessment of how the Egyptians and the Russians have been running this investigation.

SOUCI: Well, I'm pretty pleased about the Egyptians and Russians and how they're working together. They have a good relationship and the investigators there seem to be working well together for how to move this along. I am a bit concerned that they're out of there so quickly. There's a lot of clues. There's a lot of things that are small in nature that need to be looked at. And you've got the -- this is not exactly a stable environment to be doing an investigation. You normally would have more time to do this. But they're taking a lot of documentation, they're marking parts and getting that taken and photographed. They'll probably do this as what we call a digital investigation. I'll take that and map a three dimensional model and try to create it that way.

CHURCH: David Souci, we always appreciate the analysis on this. Many thanks.

SOUCI: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And we move to Asia now, and the presidents of China and Taiwan will hold talks in an historic meeting in Singapore Saturday. Leaders of the two sides haven't met since the end of China's civil war since 1949. The meeting comes weeks ahead of an election in Taiwan.

Matt Rivers joins us now with more on this meeting.

Matt, who initiated the meeting and how much does it have to do with the upcoming general elections?

[02:10:02] MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that both sides have been in negotiations to have a meeting like this. For years now, we spoke with officials close to the current administration in Taiwan a little earlier today. And they told us that the idea of a meeting like this was first approached about two years ago, and negotiations to have this kind of a meeting has been ongoing ever since. It was recently that the Chinese countered and said that they would be open to having this kind of a meeting as long as it was held in a third party country, a country that is neutral. And so that is where we are as of right now. As for how much of this has to do with those upcoming elections you mentioned, well, you probably would not be surprised to know, no one has gone on the record with that. That said, you would not be off base in speculating that perhaps the ruling party right now in Taiwan is hoping to capitalize off this high level, very historic, very symbolic meeting between these two leaders. The general election is about four months away. It's going to be held next January. As of right now, poll numbers are not looking very good for the current party that is in power. And so certainly we wouldn't be off base to put out the idea that this current party that is currently in charge in Taiwan could be hoping to capitalize, at least politically on this upcoming meeting.

CHURCH: And, Matt, it's one thing to have a meeting like this, but what is expected to come out of it?

RIVERS: As of now, both sides have said there would be no binding agreements that will come out of this meeting. Nothing will be signed. There won't be any long lasting accords. They have just said that they will be talking about peace generally speaking. And so whether there will be anything that we can put our finger on and say this is a concrete item that has come out of this meeting, I think wouldn't be too likely. That said, the just sheer symbolic nature of this meeting makes it important in and of itself. Even if nothing really comes out of it, the fact that it is just happening is truly historic.

CHURCH: Yes, it certainly is.

Matt Rivers joining us there with the latest details. We appreciate that.

Turning to the United States now, authorities are expected to announce the death of a police officer in Faulkslake, Illinois, back in September was a suicide. Police launched a massive manhunt after Lieutenant Joe Glenowitz was found shot to death in a wooded area. He had radioed police headquarters a short time earlier saying he was chasing three suspects. A law enforcement official says reports by the FBI and the medical examiner's office point to suicide.

Donald Trump, no longer the Republican front-runner, is back on the attack. His latest insults for Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. And what he's telling Jeb Bush to do. That is still to come. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:15:10] DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Don Riddell, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.

It's been another great night for the two Manchester football clubs in the latest match in the Champion's League. Manchester City's highly impressive 3-1 victory means the City have qualified for the last 16. They got off to a blistering start with Sterling putting them in the driver's seat after 10 minutes. City makes it out of the group with two games to spare. And Manchester United atop of their group, too, after Wayne Rooney repaid his manager's faith in him by scoring the winner at home.

In one of the night's other big games, Real Madrid qualified for the knockout round for the 19th consecutive year. Fernandez made the difference. He was on as a Suband. He scored the winner just two minutes later. 1-0, the final score.

On Wednesday night, in the Champion's League, the focus turns to Chelsea and their embattled manager, Jose Mourinho. The Blues are at home and they've lost three games in the last 10 days. It's been rumored that some of the players were in revolt against their manager. Fabregas has taken to social media to deny that he's in involved. Captain John Terry is also denying a mutiny. Mourinho himself calls the rift allegations sad.

That is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Donald Trump says he plans to start airing campaign ads over the next few days in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The Republican presidential candidate was in New York on Monday promoting his new book, "Crippled America." Now that he's trailing Ben Carson in several national polls, Trump is back on the offensive. He called Carson low energy, Marco Rubio sweaty, and said Jeb Bush should drop out of the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Look, Jeb a nice guy. He's a stiff. He doesn't have a chance. He ought to do what Walker did. Walker saw --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he should drop out?

TRUMP: Absolutely. He has no chance. He has money, but the money is not going to do it. But he's been branded as a low energy person. I don't --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By who?

TRUMP: I don't know. I can't imagine. Look, Jeb is not a man who is going to make it. He's wasting his time. He's wasting a lot of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: With me now is Republican CNN political commentator, Tara Setmayer.

Thanks so much for joining us.

As we just heard there, Donald Trump is calling for Jeb Bush and other low-polling candidates to drop out of the presidential race. What's your reaction to that? And how do you think Republican voters are likely to respond to his call to essentially eliminate the competition?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, listen, this is the first time Trump has been losing in consistent polls. So he's going to continue to throw haymakers because that's what he does. He needs to bring the attention back to him. He had a lackluster debate last week where he wasn't the standout. It wasn't all about Donald Trump. So Donald Trump is good at making it all about Donald Trump. So by making outrageous statements like this, saying hey, you need to give up, it makes news. We're talking about it now. The more Trump is in the news, the more he is -- it's gratifying for him. That's what his whole campaign has been about. He's gotten probably worth about $50 million in earned media. He hasn't had to run an ad campaign, nub of that, because he gets free media from making statements like that. So I don't think anyone is taking that seriously. We are three months, 14 weeks and the first time anyone actually casts a vote. For someone like Jeb Bush who has tens of millions of dollars still in his campaign coffers, particularly his super PAC, it would be ridiculous for him to drop out now.

CHURCH: Let's listen to what Jeb Bush had to say in his CNN interview with out Jamie Gangall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: As it relates to Donald, you know, he's run for president twice and quit. I've run for governor in the biggest swing state and won twice. I know how to win. I've done it. I actually now how to govern, which is going to be an attribute when we get closer to the election.

JAMIE GANGALL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So for the record, for Donald Trump, you're not quitting?

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: No. Do we have to talk about Donald Trump? No. I'm not quitting. He's entertaining. He's fun. He says really funny things in the breaks in the debate. But I'm running for president of the United States and it's a serious endeavor. I do it with joy. There's a lot of fun parts of it, for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:20:07] CHURCH: All right. So Jeb Bush saying he's not dropping out, but he doesn't appear 100 percent committed to this. He keeps talking about his experience as governor. When the voters have clearly turned their backs on political insiders. So what does he need to do to turn things around for himself? What would your advice be to him?

SETMAYER: Listen, Jeb Bush has dug himself into a hole. I think he's the completely blind-sided by the Trump factor. When Jeb Bush entered this race web did not expect that he would be competing against somebody like Donald Trump and the big personality that Trump brings to this. Now, you hear Jeb Bush constantly say, oh, I'm having fun. This is joyous for me. No one buys that. Did you see his body language? He's not having fun. And people can recognize that. The voters do not feel connected to him. He's having a tough time connect, voters, which is why he's consistently polled in single digits, on top of the fact that there's the dynastic aspect of this. This is the wrong climate for Jeb Bush to run in. He's going to fight tooth and nail. He's establishment. He has money behind him. There are a lot of people that still support him in the establishment that will prop him up. But ultimately, I don't see how Jeb Bush turns this around. He doesn't present well. And the voters, if they have not connected with him by now, I don't see how they do moving forward. And if he continues giving interviews like that where he calls himself a grinder or he's having fun or well, I have cooler things I could do rather than run for president, the voters look at that and they go, I don't think so. So I think Jeb Bush has a really, really tough hill to climb to turn this around to get out of the bottom of the barrel here for him in the polls. But there's 14 weeks. A week is an eternity in politics. Anything can happen.

CHURCH: And I wanted to ask you this. A new NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll shows if an election were held right now, Hillary Clinton would beat all the Republican candidates except Ben Carson. How is the Republican Party machine likely to respond to this new information, given, it appears, he is the candidate to go toe to toe with Clinton?

SETMAYER: Listen, we are so far away from a national election head to head like that that those polls are really insignificant. At this point, last time, last cycle, I believe Herman Cain was winning nationally and we saw what happened to him. A week is an eternity in politics. We're over a year out from the general election. So the fact that Ben Carson is -- you know, leads Hillary Clinton now in two weeks it could be someone else. So we don't take too much stock in those polls at this point.

CHURCH: All right. Tara Setmayer, always great to have your political analysis. Appreciate it.

SETMAYER: My pleasure.

CHURCH: Tuesday was Election Day in several U.S. states. Here is a break down of a few of them.

In Kentucky, Matt Bevin was elected governor. The Republican made headlines last year when he ran against U.S. Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and last. Bevin solidly beat Kentucky attorney general, Jack Conway, in the gubernatorial race Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT BEVIN, (R), GOVERNOR-ELECT, KENTUCKY: This is a great night for the Republican Party in the state of Kentucky. I'm also --

(CHEERING)

BEVIN: I'm also grateful for the fact that even more importantly this is a great night for conservatives in the state of Kentucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And in Mississippi, incumbent Republican governor, Phil Bryant, coasted to victory. His opponent was Democrat Robert Gray, a truck driver.

Ohio has said no to legalizing marijuana. Voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed a limited number of farms to grow the plants. The controversial initiative was backed by a host of investors, including pop star, Nick Lachey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK LACHEY, POP STAR: I'm Nick Lachey. Ohio is my home and I care very deeply of the people here, which is why I'm proud to be part of a movement that will create jobs, reinvigorate our economy, and improve the safety of our communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And earlier, I asked Mason Tvert, communications director for The Marijuana Policy Project, whether this initiative could create a cartel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASON TVERT, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT: Essentially, what it proposes is an oligopoly, a system in which there are a limited number of producers. And that's something for each state to decide when it comes to what type of system they have. Every state has a different type of system for alcohol and some states have chosen to allow liquor and beer to be sold in grocery stores, other states don't allow that. And similarly here, we have a state considering only allowing marijuana to be grown by 10 particular businesses. So it's really a question of what the state wants. But quite frankly, we would say it should be treated more like alcohol and there should be competition among producers and we should ensure only the best ones are the ones able to operate and produce the products that Ohioans would be able to access.

[02:25:19] Tvert's organization is in Colorado, a state that legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 through a ballot measure.

In Houston, Texas, voters just repealed a law designed to protect lesbian, gay and transgender people from discrimination. The city passed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, also known as HERO, last year. Conservative activists spent millions trying to get rid of it. One ad warned it would allow, quote, "troubled men to go into women's public bathrooms, showers and locker rooms." But supporters of the law called that fear mongering against transgender men and women.

The city's mayor spoke out after the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENISE PARKER, (D), HOUSTON MAYOR: I've been an activist for more than 40 years. I have stood here in Houston four times with people who were given the opportunity to vote on my rights. No one's rights should be subject to a popular vote.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Denise Parker there. She is an openly gay mayor, I should add. The mayor called out what she said was a calculated campaign by the right wing.

Coming up, a hefty fine for a Japanese company. A look at just how much Takata will have to pay for its faulty air bags. The details still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:16] CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. We want to update you on the main stories we're following this hour.

Russian state media reports the tail of the MetroJet 9268 was found five kilometers from the rest of the wreckage in the Sinai Peninsula, which could be further evidence of the plane coming apart in midair. We are looking at live pictures here from St. Petersburg. The flowers there in memory of those 224 people lost. They started with just a few carnations and the flowers grow by the minute.

Also in Egypt, at least three policemen are dead after an exPLOsion outside a police officer's club. That's according to state run media. It happened in the city of al Arish (ph) in northern Sinai on Wednesday. Although officers were injured, there's no word yet on who is responsible for that blast.

For the first time since 1949, the leaders of Taiwan and China are scheduled to meet Saturday in Singapore. Taiwan's central news agency reports the presidents will discuss peace. Taiwan split from the mainland government. Beijing considers it a break-away province.

Volkswagen's troubles just got a whole lot bigger. Still reeling from the diesel emissions scandal, the German automaker now says it has set carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption figures too low when certifying some models. Volkswagen says it regrets the new discovery and will begin discussing ways to fix the issue with the relevant authorities.

Right now, two huge business stories are influencing Tokyo's Nikkei, which gained almost 1.3 percent on Thursday. Japan's Post holdings surged as much as 26 percent. It was Japan's biggest initial public offering of the year and plenty of investors rushed to get a piece of it. While another Japanese company, Takata, is struggling after being hit with a massive fine for selling faulty air bags. The stock dropped more than 13 percent.

Will Ripley is in Tokyo covering Japan Post Holdings initial public offering, and Sophia Yan is in Hong Kong covering Takata's troubles.

Let's start with Sophia first.

Sophia, how much worse is it likely to get for Takata and how will the company cope under the pressure of this massive fine?

SOPHIA YAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Rosemary, this is just one of many cash penalties that Takata faces. The company has already been forced to pay fines in the U.S. regulators slapped $14,000 a day, a fine of that amount earlier this year on the company and it's currently being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department. It's also embroiled in a number of private lawsuits. All of this has been terrible for Takata's bottom line. The company has posted losses in the red and that makes it, of course, very difficult to pay these fines going forward. Just today, the stock itself was down as much as 28 percent. It gained a lot bit back at the end of the day, but overall, the company is still down for the year.

CHURCH: Yeah. And it's worth noting that Honda has now sacked Takata. So let's talk about that as well as what the company is doing to try to correct all the problems with its faulty air bags.

YAN: Yes. Honda is one of Takata's biggest customers. So losing that business, again, won't be great for the company. Honda issued a statement today saying that it, quote, "expects its suppliers to act with integrity at all times and we are deeply troubled by this apparent behavior by one of our suppliers."

Now, going forward, automakers and consumers will have to think about whether or not they're ready to use these air bags again. Rebuilding that confidence will take quite a bit of time.

CHURCH: All right. Good to talk with you, Sophia.

I want to turn to CNN's Will Ripley now, who is covering Japan Post Holdings.

So, Will, this was a successful stock market debut. Talk touts about that, 19 percent increase there. What's the back story to this and what impact will it ultimately have on Japan's economy?

[02:35:01] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. As far as day one goes, this is truly a success for the retail investors. The Japanese government was targeting here. 80 percent of the Japan Post IPO was for the Japanese and 20 percent was allocated for foreign investors. Japan Post, to put it simply is a name brand here in Japan. It's a place where people drop off their mail but it's far more than that because it's a place where people deposit their money. It's one of Japan's largest banks. It's one of Japan's largest insurance providers. In fact, the largest in both counts by some measures. And so this truly is an integral part of people's daily lives. There are 24,000 branches like this one right which is about to close. But you can see there are customers who are in here and they're getting their mail, they're using the atm. They can purchase insurance in this building here. And so for people to be able to buy a stock in Japan Post, Rosemary, they're viewing this as an asset, something that will be reliable, something that will turn a profit for many years to come. Given that people invest for $12 to $18 per share depending on which of the three companies they invested in, because remember, it was the holding company, the insurance company and the bank, all of those investors saw pretty impressive gains, as much as up to 33 percent for the insurance company, Rosemary. The question moving forward will be can the momentum continue and will people get that return on their investment they're hoping for? The Japanese government hoping this will help stimulate the economy. That retail investors making more money will spend it in other way toes boost Japan after many years of stagnation -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: And presumably, Will, that's exactly what's going to happen. What are analysts saying about that?

RIPLEY: Well, analysts say they're going to have to look closely. Keep in mind, what investors want is a return on their investment and revenue predictions for Japan Posts for this upcoming year, the predictions are down. So the performance of the company is going to be certainly something in clear focus. Again, this is an established commodity. This is an established brand here in Japan. This is something people use every day in multiple aspects of their lives. It's viewed as a reliable investment. Analysts seem to think, moving forward -- certainly, they don't expect double-digit gains. They do expect stable growth, which is the kind of thing retail investors in Japan particularly are looking for.

CHURCH: Will Ripley joining us live from Tokyo. Many thanks to you.

Greece is beginning to send migrants to other European countries under the E.U.'s relocation plan. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was on hand as the first group boarded a plane from Athens to Luxembourg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER (through translation): We also have a sense of responsibility. We know that we're responsible for having a multi plying affecting involving more -- and hopefully there will be an end to the loss of human lives in the Aegean Sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And under the plan, about 160,000 migrants will be sent to E.U. countries after they're processed in Italy or in Greece. The U.N. says more than 200,000 migrants arrived in Greece last month alone.

Justin Trudeau will be sworn in as Canada's 23rd prime minister in the coming hours. The 43-year-old father of three and his liberal party won a parliamentary majority in elections two weeks ago ousting Stephen Harper's conservatives. Mr. Trudeau is the son of late Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Members of Mr. Trudeau's cabinet will also be sworn in.

Iran's supreme leader is clarifying the meaning of the country's decades' old chant of death to America. On his Twitter feed, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini says, and I am quoting here, "it is clear it does not mean death to American nation. This slogan means death to American policies, death to arrogance." But Khomeini has emphasized relations between the U.S. and Iran are not normalized despite the nuclear deal.

Volcanic ash is filling the sky around Bali and keeping hundreds of travelers where they are. That story still to come. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:42:35] CHURCH: Parts of Yemen are deluged after a rare tropical storm hit Tuesday. The storm called Chapala dumped a least a year's worth of rain in some areas. Mudslides and flash floods are a major threat in the country's dry, rugged terrain. Amateur video reportedly shows people trying to rescue some who were stuck in a car. Look at this. CNN, though, cannot independently confirm the authenticity of this video.

Volcanic ash from Indonesia's Mt. Rinjani is grounding flights at Bali's International Airport and two domestic airports until Thursday. Officials say tremors are being reported continuously and there's a good chance of more eruptions. Thousands of travelers were also stranded in Bali in July due to eruptions from another volcano in east Java.

Heavy fog is blanketing parts of the United States and Europe.

Allison Chinchar is here to talk to us about that.

So this is extensive.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's going to affect at least a million people in various cities. A beautiful Sunday and Monday, we had such bag fog in Monday it canceled and delayed hundreds of flights. It may not necessarily be that bad in London, but we are expecting very bad fog in many areas. So let's take a look at where we are going to be seeing some of the worst fog. I guess we'll take a look in just a minute. But we do expect to have some fog, pretty bad in parts of the southeast. This was on Tuesday. Now, the bright white color you can see in here, this is actually clouds. But the darker, more of a gray color, that is the fog. That's how widespread the fog was across much of this region. Now, as we transition into Wednesday and Thursday, we're still going to continue to see some bad fog. Cities like St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, and much of the Midwest are going to be dealing with fog around one mile visibility or less. Then as we transition into Thursday, same thing. Now we factor in New York, Washington, also into Raleigh, Europe, you're going to be dealing with a pretty similar scenario. Again, this was Tuesday. You can see the brighter white clients out to the West, but the gray that's engulfing most of France all the way into Russia was dealing with some fog. Take a look at some of these numbers. Again, Wednesday and Thursday, we're going to be looking at cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg, Germany, even around Zurich could be dealing with heavy fog both Wednesday and on Thursday.

Part of the reason for this is a lot of these areas have had a saturated surface when it rains, you get all of that water that comes down and then at night you get the clear skies. That helps all of that heat move away. So your temperature comes down closer to your dew point temperature. And that, in turn, helps to create some of the radiation fog that we've been seeing in a lot of these areas, especially for several hours in the morning. We have all of that gulf moisture coming up into parts of the southeast and above-average temperatures. Out to the West, quite a different story, however. Cooler temperatures. And coolest of the season for many of those areas.

Now, one good thing that has come out of that is the rain in parts of much needed California and the West coast where they've been ravaged by wildfires for much of the year. Now, finally starting to get not only rain, but snowpack. Take a look at the last couple of years. 2012, 2013, 2014, we have seen below average snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for years. 2015, again, we're low, but that will start to change as we get into the rest of the year. Again, a lot of these areas have already picked up over a foot of snow. So the good news is for a lot of the ski resorts along the West coast and much of the Western U.S., they're off to a much better start this year than they have been the last couple of years.

[02:46:25] CHURCH: As long as the skiers are happy.

(LAUGHTER)

CHINCHAR: Exactly.

CHURCH: We must do that.

All right. Thanks so much, Allison. We'll talk again next hour. Appreciate it.

Rising sea levels are a major concern for scientists and environmentalists, but now a new NASA study is raising questions about a potential source of the problem.

CNN's Brandon Miller has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRANDON MILLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know sea levels around the world are rising. Current thinking is part of that sea level rise comes from melting ice in Antarctica. But one recent study from NASA scientists says that may not be the case.

Antarctica is a big place, toughly the size of the U.S. and Mexico combined. So as you might expect, changes in its ice are not uniform across the entire continent. Nearly all scientists agree that ice is being lost from the Western part of Antarctica and along its peninsula. On the eastern side, ice is being gained. But where this study is different is they measure that that gaining of ice along eastern Antarctica is outpacing the loss on the Western side.

What's behind this addition of ice? It's snowfalls that started becoming heavier around 10,000 years ago. The scientists know this by looking into ice core data.

Why is this important? It would mean Antarctica is not contributing to sea level rise. But before you go buying up costal property, we are already observing the effects of sea level rise in places like Miami where routine high tides are inundating parts of the city which never saw water before. Also, even though this gain of ice has been occurring for thousands of years, it may not be around to stay. In the next 20 to 30 years, the increasing rate of loss in western Antarctica could outpace the gains in eastern Antarctica.

Bottom line, there is still a lot we need to learn about how Antarctica is reacting to climate change. But you can be sure sea levels will continue to rise as Antarctica has only made up about 8 percent of the sea level rise that we have observed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, a teen from Sierra Leone is rediscovering the world after losing his sight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH SESAY, TEENAGER REGAINS SIGHT: Yellow, red, green, blue, I'm seeing them brighter than I thought they should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And wait until you hear what he says about the night sky. We're back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:50:18] CHINCHAR: I'm Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, and you're watching CNN "Weather Watch."

(WEATHER REPORT)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Water is flowing back into Rome's famous Trevi Fountain. The romantic landmark, which is more than 250 years old, was dry during renovations this past year. The Italian fashion house Fendidi's paid $2.5 million for the restoration, including new pumps and barriers to keep pigeons away.

The online book seller, Amazon, is taking a page out of its competitors' play book for its latest retail venture. It has opened an actual bookstore in Seattle, Washington. Over the years, Amazon's Internet business played a role in the down fall of many of its bricks-and-mortar rivals. Amazon says its new store integrates the benefits of off-line and online book selling.

An exchange student from Sierra Leone, who now lives in Idaho, has spent most of his life blind. Thanks to a generous gift from his school and host family, he was able to have surgery to restore his vision.

Lacey Darrow, from CNN affiliate, KIVI, has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LACEY DARROW, REPORTER, KIVI: As Joseph Sesay walked to class at Boise High School, there was something noticeably missing from his daily outfit, his walking cane. When we talked to Joseph last Wednesday, he told us one of his favorite songs was "Amazing Grace." Just as the song goes, he was blind and now he sees.

UNIDENTIFIED BOISE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: It's a miracle. It really is a miracle. He left Thursday night blind and he was at school Monday with vision. To me, that's astounding.

DARROW: Just days after surgery to remove congenital cataracts, he has a whole new world to discover.

SESAY: I have got to learn so many things. Yellow, red, green, blue, I'm seeing them brighter than I thought they -- they should be.

DARROW: After years of having to imagine what things look like, he's now able to see them. Like looking at a leaf for the first time.

SESAY: I was always expecting that whenever it's nighttime, the skies are totally dark, you cannot see anything. But I raised my head up on Saturday and could see. You know, I could see the skies, some parts are dark, and my host dad told me that that was the rain settling in the clouds.

DARROW: Joseph was able to pick out his outfits for school, his favorite colors, and he was even able to see himself.

[02:55:15] SESAY: So for the first day I saw myself, I thought I was -- I was really, really, really, really black.

(LAUGHTER)

DARROW: He says he can't wait to learn to read, see the face of his parents and see animals, like lions, elephants and cows. Right now, he says he's just overwhelmed.

SESAY: I think I have to be very patient. I'm not going to rush things.

DARROW: Joseph wants to be a teacher and maybe even president of Sierra Leone. Having his vision is only going to make his goals easier. And as soon as the community has rallied around Joseph to help him with his vision, the principal says he has made the school a better place.

UNIDENTIFIED BOISE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: You know, he's -- he's changed Boise High. He really has. And I think it's been a really good mutually beneficial relationship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: What a great story. One operation changed his life forever.

And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. Stay with us. We have more news still to come.

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