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North Korea Insists on H-Bomb Test; South Korea Responds to North Korea; Chinese Stocks Inch Slightly Higher; President Obama Faces Questions During Town Hall on Gun Control;Truck Bomb Kills At Least 50 in Western Libya; German Official: New Year's Eve Attackers Could Be Deported; Hitler's "Mein Kampf" to Go on Sale in Germany; Native American Tribe Responds to Oregon Protest. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 08, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:10] JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, a noisy response to North Korea's nuclear test. Massive speakers blast propaganda and K-Pop across the DMZ.

Stocks in the Asia Pacific region look to rebound one day after a market plunge in China forced an abrupt end to trading there.

And U.S. President Barack Obama tries to fight back against his opponents along with a few conspiracy theorists during a live town hall on guns right here on CNN.

Hello, everybody. Thanks for being with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.

South Korea is responding to Pyongyang's nuclear tests with propaganda broadcasts against North Korea. They started a few hours ago at the Demilitarized Zone. South Korea's military is also increasing its defensive posture along the border.

North Korea in the past has responded to these broadcasts with artillery fire. They come on what they believed to be Kim Jong-Un's 33rd birth. North Korea claims it detonated a hydrogen bomb on Wednesday, possibly time for the event.

CNN is the only U.S. broadcast reporting from inside North Korea. Here's Will Ripley in Pyongyang.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been meeting with officials here in Pyongyang. And I can tell you from their perspective this is all about defending North Korea's national sovereignty. This is a country that for the better part of 70 years has felt consistently under the imminent threat of invasion from the United States and its allies. The U.S., of course, is tied very closely militarily with South Korea. U.S. troops are stationed along the Demilitarized Zone along with South Korean troops. There are also missiles in place on the southern end of the peninsula.

And that is North Korea's justification, they say, for continuing to aggressively invest and develop not only their nuclear program, but also their missile program, and they have one of the largest standing armies in the world with more than a million troops. Many of them stationed close to that heavily fortified border.

And that could be a potential flashpoint as South Korea threatens these propaganda loud speaker broadcasts which in the past have been infuriating to the North Korean regime, a regime that insists on controlling the message and making sure that its people do not receive outside influence that they feel might corrupt their minds.

So the thought that these loud speakers could start blasting propaganda from the South into the North on of all days, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un's 33rd birthday, well over the summer when that happened North Korea called it an act of war. They sent troops to the border, they fired artillery at the loud speakers and the situation came right to the brink before they were able to deescalate.

Things are already tense here on the peninsula after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in the last 15 years. North Korea claims they have experts that can prove it was, in fact, a hydrogen bomb, even though many international experts are highly skeptical.

No change in radiation levels have been detected by China, South Korea and Japan. Officials who I met with here in Pyongyang say the explanation for that is that new technology was used to reduce the amount of radiation spewed into the atmosphere.

In the meantime, I also asked about the possibility of additional sanctions, with the United States voting next week on more harsh sanctions against the North Korean regime. Officials told me, frankly, they're not worried about sanctions. They say they've lived with them for so many years the thought of more crippling sanctions doesn't intimidate them. They say collectively as a nation they will tighten their belts and go without food and electricity if they have to, to defend their nation.

Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang, North Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul with more on South Korea's new propaganda broadcast and the other measures the country is planning on taking.

So, Paula, explain why these broadcasts are considered an appropriate response. Some people may think it's odd that after a nuclear test the South Koreans are playing loud music across the DMZ.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, they know this gets a reaction. They know of all the things that they could do, this actually affects Pyongyang. North Korea is infuriated by these broadcasts. We've seen in the past, as Will mentioned, that they have reacted violently to the loud speakers. And the reason, according to some analysts for that, is because they are very scared of the truth.

These loud speakers, defectors are saying, that they're giving the fact that in the South life is good, the economy is good, and that in the North it is the exact opposite, and explaining exactly what the situation is to people who may not otherwise know. And so this is the real fear according to the experts that Pyongyang, obviously, always controls the information that comes into the country and they have no control over this.

[01:05:04] Now we understand that at nighttime, it could have a range of about 24 kilometers, about 10 kilometers in the daytime. But that would encompass, really, just beyond the border. So the area where it's mainly just soldiers and very carefully picked soldiers that those more loyal to the regime -- John.

VAUSE: And, Paula, South Korea is looking to China to try and deal with the North Koreans. At the same time, the U.S. secretary of state has said some harsh words for Beijing. Let's listen to what John Kerry had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: China had a particular approach that it wanted to make. And we agreed and respected to give them space to be able to implement that. But today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear. That has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So very blunt words there from Secretary Kerry. Any idea at this point what action Chinese are likely to take against the North Koreans?

HANCOCKS: Well, I think the overwhelming expectation is that they will support sanctions, but what kind of sanctions. There's the U.S. and many other, the six-party talks, countries would like to see very comprehensive, robust sanctions. But in the past, observers have said that China has managed to water down these sanctions within the Security Council. So I don't necessarily have the bite that the likes of South Korea and the United States would like to see.

So it is likely that they are going to support sanctions. We don't know for the sure, of course, what they'll do. But it's clear that they are angry at what has happened. They have condemned what has happened. We understand that they weren't warned about this nuclear test.

It is embarrassing for President Xi Jinping that they are perceived to be the one who does have some control over North Korea, or at least as a very close ally, and yet even they don't know that these nuclear tests are going to happen and they have no power to try and implicate the North Korean leader and stop him from carrying this out.

So they are likely to go along with the international community, but just how strong these sanctions might be and how much of an impact they'd have on North Korea, we don't know.

VAUSE: Yes. Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks live this hour in Seoul.

Another story in the Asia Pacific region, financial markets there have had a mixed day with some substantial gains, though, in China. Trading has just ended for the day in Tokyo, with the Nikkei down by almost 0.5 percent. Hong Kong, though, up by 0.75 percent. Shanghai Composite, all eyes on that, up by more than 2.5 percent after a wild dip in the negative territory at the start of the day. And in Australia, the S&P ASX 200 has closed for the day down by almost 0.4 percent.

Let's go live now into Beijing, Matt Rivers standing by. And so, Matt, it looks like Chinese stocks back from the brink, at least for now.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A much better day today than yesterday, to be sure, John. And we're about 50 minutes or so away from markets closing here. And right now that key index, the CSI 300, is up for the day after dipping slightly in the morning. It is now holding steady in positive territory. And I think part of the reason that is, is some action that we saw that was implemented by the regulatory commission here announced late last night, around 10:30 p.m., that they are suspending use of these so-called circuit breakers.

You'll remember from earlier this week, these circuit breakers are designed to automatically halt trading when there is a certain level of losses in the stock market. This was the first week that those circuit breakers were implemented and many observers said that they were actually causing more harm than good. So the regulatory commission actually suspended their use late last night. And that is appearing to have a positive effect on the markets. So we asked one observer in Hong Kong about those circuit breakers earlier today. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's actually quite wise. I mean, they hadn't worked in the way that they had hoped that they might work. And I think the real reason there is the circuit breakers were originally introduced in the U.S. to stop computers and all those racing against each other. And that's not really the sort of market that China is. China is very much more a retail investor market where they actually, you know, go down to their brokerage and maybe put in their own orders. So it's not likely got computers that's just going to run haywire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: And so what he's talking about there, this idea of retail investors. Most of the people trading here are just everyday Chinese people. And so while those circuit breakers were in action, halting trading, instead of calming investors down and calming traders down, instead it actually panicked people and caused them to short sell according to most of the analysts we spoke to. So perhaps that won't continue now that the circuit breakers are no longer in use.

[01:10:05] VAUSE: And Matt, one of the issues with stocks has been the falling value of the currency there, the yuan. The Central Bank in Beijing took some decisive action on that today.

RIVERS: They did. They stabilized it today and so that could be another reason why there has been more calm in the markets. But, you know, part of the reason we saw the drop that we did yesterday was because overnight Wednesday into Thursday, the Central Bank actually lowered the value of the yuan to its lowest level since 2011. And many observers are questioning the timing of that, given that we saw incredible volatility earlier this week, why would they have lowered the value of the yuan at a time when markets were in a pretty fragile state.

And so that kind of decision making is leading investors and analysts to question the Chinese central bank's ability to control volatility.

VAUSE: Matt, thank you. Matt Rivers live in Beijing.

And of course what happens in China no longer stays in China. U.S. financial markets are off to a pretty dismal start in 2016. Some analysts believe this may be the start of a bear market. The stock price is falling, encouraging skittish investors to sell.

On Thursday, the Dow and the S&P both fell 2.3 percent. The Nasdaq was down more than 3 percent.

Donna Howell is a senior tech reporter for the "Investors' Business Daily." She joins me now at our studios here in the Los Angeles.

Donna, is it a growing lack of confidence right in Chinese policymakers and their ability to control the volatility because, you know, they've made some pretty bad calls lately. There was a lot of questions about their ability last year and now we've got the issue of the circuit breakers, as well.

DONNA HOWELL, SENIOR TECH REPORTER, INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY: I think, yes, there is concern about the circuit breakers and all of the interventions that are happening. But it's a matter of refinement. We've had circuit breakers in the U.S. since black Monday in 1987. And you see not just the circuit breakers, but then there's also other kind of intervention. There's the lowering of the currency. There's also policy that they extended where there were worries that on Friday the ban on people being able to sell large amounts of shares in companies would go away.

So that may have caused some of the earlier volatility this week, but now that's been extended. So you're seeing a mix of the interventions going away and the interventions staying. And I think it's the markets looking for clarity.

VAUSE: It's very uncertain right now.

HOWELL: Yes. VAUSE: In the U.S., investors have had a bit of a panicky start to

the year. We've had the worst four-day start to a year for the Dow on record. How much of this is a long overdue correction? How much of this is being driven by events in China?

HOWELL: Well, you have a lot going on not only in China, you had the Saudi Arabia-Iran thing where diplomatic relations were broken off. You had North Korea doing a test. And then you -- you do have oil being low and right now it's more over supply than a lack of demand. But I think that there have been worries that a continuing situation in China with an economic worry happening might spill over here.

I would say that in the U.S., we're reacting quite a bit to China. It's been almost seven years since the bottom of the U.S. market. And we're overdue for a correction. There isn't that kind of over-the-top investor optimism that usually precedes a big bear market, but something like a 20 percent or a 30 percent correction would probably be healthy to set the market on --

VAUSE: Good for the long-term?

HOWELL: Yes.

VAUSE: And when we talk about the price of oil that is indicative of demand, the demands out there, the price is low. They all plays into each other.

Very quickly, the problem for the Chinese right now, they've got this slowing economy. And everything the government could do to try and help the economy in the short-term is bad in the long-term. So they've got this dilemma. How do they get out of this?

HOWELL: Good question. I think that they are methodical. You know, you saw China's president come over and talk to our leaders here. They're looking for solutions. The trading rules that they had were not all that different from, for instance, our circuit breakers. So I think that while they're always going to do what they want to do, it's going to be a matter of refinement and there's that old maxim about how China plays the long game, which I hate to invoke again.

But ultimately, I think they'll try and find a way to minimize what was happening short-term, but ultimately they're going to be looking to long-term.

VAUSE: Based on the long-term price.

Donna, thanks for coming in. Good to speak to you.

HOWELL: OK.

VAUSE: Well, still to come here, the U.S. president defended his executive orders on gun control at a CNN town hall. More on that when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we can combine gun safety with sensible background checks and some other steps, we're not going to eliminate gun violence, but we will lessen it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:18:35] VAUSE: U.S. President Barack Obama calls his gun control proposals a modest start to improving the lives of Americans.

CNN hosted a town hall on Thursday night where Mr. Obama laid out his case once again for tougher gun laws. He insisted he respects the Second Amendment, the right for Americans to bear arms and says the idea that he's trying to take away everyone's guns is nothing more than a conspiracy.

Some gun rights activists now worried they won't be able to buy guns and they're right, they say, under threat. The widow of U.S. Navy SEAL and sniper Chris Kyle pressed Mr. Obama on how his proposed laws will make a difference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYA KYLE, WIDOW OF CHRIS KYLE: Your message of hope is something I agree with and I think it's great. And I think that by creating new laws you do give people hope. The thing is that the laws that we create don't stop these horrific things from happening, right? And that's a very tough pill to swallow.

OBAMA: Right.

KYLE: We want to think that we can make a law and people will follow it. But by the very nature of their crime, they're not following it. By the very nature of looking at the people who hurt our loved ones here, I don't know that any of them would have been stopped by the background check.

OBAMA: Some criminals will get their hands on firearms even if there's a background check. Somebody may lie on a form. Somebody will intend to commit a crime but they don't have a record that shows up on the background check system. But in the same way that we don't eliminate all traffic accidents but over the course of 20 years traffic accidents get lower, there's still tragedies.

[01:20:10] There's still drunk drivers, there's still people who don't wear their seatbelts. But over time, that violence was reduced and so families are spared. That's the same thing that we can do with gun ownership.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Mark Kelly is the husband of former congresswoman Gabriel Giffords. She survived a shooting in 2011 and they have since campaigned for tougher gun laws. Kelly also asked the president about a major part of his proposal, expanding background checks for gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK KELLY, GUN CONTROL ADVOCATE: Often what you hear in the debate of expanding background checks to more gun sales, and as you know, Gabby and I are 100 percent behind the concept of somebody getting a background check before buying a gun. But when we testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, we heard not only from the gun lobby, but from United States senators that expanding background checks will -- not may -- will lead to a registry, which will lead to confiscation, which will lead to a tyrannical government.

OBAMA: This notion of a conspiracy out there, and it gets wrapped up in concerns about the federal government. Now there's a long history of that. That's in our DNA. You know, the United States was -- was born suspicious of some distant authority.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But let me just jump in.. Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? I mean --

OBAMA: Well, yes --

COOPER: A lot of people really believe this deeply, that they just don't trust you.

OBAMA: No, no -- I'm sorry, Cooper, yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy. What are you saying? The --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law is a conspiracy?

COOPER: Not every -- but there's surely --

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that. Is that controversial?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Lonnie and Sandy Phillips joins us now from Fairfax, Virginia. Their daughter, Jessie, was one of 12 people shot dead in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012.

Lonnie and Sandy, thank you for being with us. What was it like to be in that town hall with President Obama?

SANDY PHILLIPS, AURORA SHOOTING VICTIM JESSICA GHAWI: Well, we were fortunate enough to be at the White House on Tuesday and to get the invite here as well. So it's been an interesting, remarkable, exciting week, to say the least. This is something that we've been working very hard on 24/7 for the last four years. So to see it come to this point and have a president that is bringing this issue to the national stage, finally, is very rewarding.

VAUSE: Lonnie, was there any moment in that town hall which really stands out to you?

LONNIE PHILLIPS, AURORA SHOOTING VICTIM JESSICA GHAWI: Well, I thought the whole -- the way it was presented was very well done. I mean, there were -- the questions that were asked were very good questions. And I think the president answered them all very well. He was careful, he was very -- his conversation was, I think, very believable. And his demeanor was calm and respectful.

And the questions that were asked, I think the one about -- I think the father asked about, you know, why can't guns be licensed like cars and he explained that the rhetoric right now and the conversation is too heated to even get to that point. But if we can make some kind of movement, and at least get everyone on the same page and talking to each other in a responsible, quiet way, instead of screaming to each other, that we can make some progress. And I think that's what he was trying to show tonight and I think he succeeded in doing that.

VAUSE: Do you think the president managed to change any minds after the town hall, or is it just too soon for that?

S. PHILLIPS: You know, I just answered that question earlier in another interview. And I don't think it's the president's job to change minds. I think it's his job to put the truth out there, put the facts out there, to call out people when they're believing falsehoods and rhetoric that have been around for way too long, like guns don't kill people, people kill people.

You know, this is a slippery slope to confiscation. And he's calling them out on that. And I think that's a good thing. Most sensible -- most Americans are sensible. And to allow that fringe element for all these years to run rough ride over us is not OK. So now it's on a national level. It's being discussed logically and calmly. And we applaud him for doing it. It's big, big step forward for the country and for saving lives in our country.

[01:25:13] L. PHILLIPS: He doesn't need to change any minds. Everybody is pretty well polarized. They're going to be what they're going to be. We don't need any mind changing. We just need to go to the polls. 90 percent of us want changes. 74 percent of the NRA members want changes.

The minds don't need to be changed. We just need to go vote. Nothing happens until Election Day. So if you want to do something about it, go to the polls. Get rid of the 90 percent of the Republicans that voted against the background check bill when they should have voted for it and cost thousands of lives by not passing that law. It's just to the point now we're not arguing any more. Just go to the polls and do -- and vote your conscience. That's all we need you to do. S. PHILLIPS: Take action, exactly. The president stood up when

Congress wouldn't. The president did something when Congress wouldn't. So we need to be applauding that action finally and wait and see what will happen in the future. You know, it does take a long time to change a culture and to move things forward. It's too late for our daughter, but it's not too late for others. So we'll get this done.

L. PHILLIPS: We're not going to give up.

VAUSE: OK.

L. PHILLIPS: We're not going to stop. It's just getting more and more and more people into this fray.

VAUSE: We'll leave it there, Lonnie and Sandy. But thank you so much for speaking with us. And just to remind our viewers, it was your daughter, Jessica, who was in that movie theater back in Aurora, Colorado, back 2012 when she was killed. I wish you both the best of luck.

S. PHILLIPS: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Two-thirds of Americans in a new CNN/ORC poll say they are in support of Mr. Obama's executive actions. Broken down on party lines, 88 percent of Democrats, 65 percent of independents, just over half of Republicans surveyed say they favor the president's proposals.

And U.S. Republican presidential candidates quickly attacked Mr. Obama during Thursday night's town hall. Jeb Bush tweeted, "We're at war and POTUS, the president of the United States, is focused on more gun control. I'll protect the Second Amendment and take the fight to ISIS."

Ben Carson tweeted this, "Americans are rightly concerned when the same man who promised that you could keep your health care now promises that you can keep your guns." And Republican frontrunner Donald Trump made this pledge at a campaign rally in Vermont.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That's bait. That's like gun-free zone. And then they walk in with whatever the hell they're carrying. And these five great soldiers, and I'm telling you, one of them was one of the most highly awarded -- he was super, shot, everything. He's not allowed to have a gun.

All five are killed instantaneously. And you have other cases. I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools. And -- you have to. And on military bases, my first day, it gets signed, OK? My first day. There's no more gun-free zones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And the largest gun rights activist group in the United States, the National Rifle Association, or NRA, refused the invitation to attend the CNN town hall. But the NRA's executive director appeared on FOX News during the event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS COX, NRA'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: This president can talk about background checks all day long, but that's nothing more than a distraction away from the fact that he can't keep us safe and he supported every gun control proposal that's ever been made. He doesn't support the individual right to own a firearm. That's been the position of his Supreme Court nominees, that's been the position of his administration. So what are we going to talk about, basketball? I'm not really interested in going over and talking to the president who doesn't have a basic level of respect and understanding of the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Mr. Obama repeatedly argued that he wants to protect the constitutional right to bear arms and he had this to say about the NRA's absence at the town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There's a reason why the NRA is not here. They're just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think that they would be prepared to have a debate with the president.

COOPER: They haven't been to the White House in years.

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: No. No. We've invited them. We've invited them.

COOPER: So right now, tonight, you're saying you would be felt --

OBAMA: We have invited them repeatedly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, a series of sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne, Germany, escalating tensions over immigration in that country. We'll have new details on the investigation when we come back.

And for the first time since the end of World War II, Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is going on sale in Germany. You will hear from those against and those in favor of republishing Hitler's manifesto.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:33:30] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: At least 50 people are dead after a truck bomb ripped through a police training center in western Libya. Authorities say they don't know yet who's responsible but ISIS has been stepping up attacks in the country.

CNN senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what is left of one part of Libya's bid to restore law and order, now four and a half tumultuous years since Colonel Gadhafi died. The vast truck bomb killing dozens of recruits at a police training center.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[01:35:12] PATON WALSH: "He came driving really fast," he says. He drove through the gate in a large vehicle that then exploded."

Probably a suicide bomber in a fuel tanker, say reports. Months from now, Western troops could have been training Libyans here in a bid to secure Libya's coastline and make Europe safer.

But for now, it was just the young struck down, most likely by ISIS who haven't claimed it yet.

Now hospitals themselves in an oil-rich country struggling this day with money, battling to treat more and more injured with less and less. Over 70 on this hospital's list by dusk.

ISIS have found a home in the bloodshed, helped by the chaos of a civil war between two rival governments battling it out to rule supreme.

Many now see the coastal state as ISIS's fall-back position if they keep losing in Iraq and Syria.

24 hours earlier, ISIS released this video to show how they had taken the town of Binjowat, east of their strong hold, Sirte. Yet another stretch of the Mediterranean hours from Europe by boat in their grasp. Europe increasingly nervous and ISIS increasingly ambitious. Their sights now on these oil fields, an important source of wealth for ISIS if the fires that their attacks have started across Libya exacerbating its trauma eventually die out.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: In Paris, investigators are working to learn more about a knife-wielding man who was shot and killed by police officers after he tried to enter a police station. Authorities say he was also carrying a fake explosive device and a handwritten note in Arabic stamped with the ISIS flag. We don't yet know the man's identity, but the incident happened almost one year to the minute of the "Charlie Hebdo" terrorist attack, which left 12 people dead at the satirical magazine's office.

The men accused of assaulting dozens of women in Cologne, Germany, could face deportation if they're migrants, according to Germany's justice minister. Police have not confirmed the suspects' identities, but the incident has fueled a political firestorm over immigration and victims rights.

Here is Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Germany, angry demonstrators take to the streets to protest violence against women as police face mounting pressure for the handling of numerous reports of sexual assaults during Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations. The week after the incident, German Chancellor Angela Merkel finally speaks out.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translation): What happened at New Year is completely unacceptable. Those are despicable criminal acts which the state will not accept, including Germany. That's why an intensive investigation by the relevant institutions is under way. This investigation must be supported. The feeling women had in this case of being completely defenseless and at mercy is, for me, personally intolerable.

(SHOUTING)

HOLMES: Cologne police received more than 100 criminal complaints from young women who say they had been sexually assaulted or robbed by gangs of men of Arab or North African dissent during the celebration outside the city's main train station.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): The men surrounded us and started to grab our behinds and touch our crutches. They touched us everywhere. I wanted to take my friend and leave. I turned around and in that moment someone grabbed my bag.

HOLMES: Victims say there wasn't enough security at the event and felt they had no one to help them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We ran to the police, but we saw the police were so understaffed they couldn't take care of us. We, as women, suffered the price.

HOLMES: Police continue to go through large amount of cell phone footage from that evening saying they've identified several suspects and have made no arrests.

Germans are furious with Cologne's mayor who suggested women protect themselves from men on the streets by keeping them at arm's-length.

German media has also been criticized for their failure to initially report the story.

And German broadcaster, ZDF, apologized on Facebook for not reporting the story earlier.

A country already overwhelmed with the influx of more than one million refugees now dealing with fear and anger as the search for the perpetrators continues.

Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: For the first time since the end of World War II, Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" or "My Struggle," goes on sale in Germany Friday. The copyright on Hitler's personal Nazi manifesto expired about a week ago. But its publishing is not without controversy.

CNN spoke with a publisher whose mother was a Holocaust survivor and with the grandson of a Nazi commando.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:40:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is important to know how a book can destroy human beings in such a way. While it was a manual for crimes, for extermination of people in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think to put book out is a shame to society and certainly something the German people would not permit in any manner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The seller says the book will include heavy annotations to expose the lies and half truths. Germany says publication of "Mein Kampf" without annotations remains illegal.

A short break here. But still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, a group of protesters in Oregon claim ranchers are losing their land, it's being stolen right out from under them. We'll find out what local Native American tribes have to say about land grabs.

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VAUSE: Oregon Governor Kate Brown says armed protesters at a national wildlife refuge need to leave immediately. The instruction comes after a meeting between armed activists and the county sheriff on Thursday failed to resolve the situation. The group occupying a federal building since the weekend claims the federal land should be returned to residents. And while the activist leader says there is a time to go home, he added that time has not arrived. Some area ranchers have backed the protesters. Hundreds of locals

attended a meeting showing support for the group to leave. In particular, a Native American tribe is calling the protesters' claim of "original land rights" issues insulting and laughable.

Here's Sara Sidner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If anyone knows how it feels to have land taken away from them, it's the Native American tribe that lives here in Burns, Oregon. They're watching what's happening out there at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. And they do not like what they see, as armed protesters from outside the state have come in and taken over land saying they're going to give it to the ranchers and the farmers.

[01:45:11] UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: This is what protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States looks like right here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Where are you from, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: From Phoenix, Arizona.

SIDNER (voice-over): The Native Americans say, how dare they. The land was once theirs.

JARVIS KENNEDY, BURNS PALUTE TRIBAL COUNCIL MEMBER: Go home. We didn't ask you to be here. The county residents here know our rights and we can stand up for ourselves.

To me, they're just a bunch of bullies and criminals coming in here and trying to push us around over here and occupy our aboriginal territories out there where ancestors are buried.

SIDNER (on camera): This actually belonged to Native Americans who were here long before the ranchers got here and long before the farmers got here.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: They should go redress their grievances, too, and maybe they'll get it back.

SIDNER: They haven't taken up arms and they haven't taken over anything, so --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: No, they got oppressed under tyranny, as well.

SIDNER: So should it be given back to the Native Americans?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: I don't know. If they have a claim for it.

SIDNER: You got pretty emotional when talking about this. What brings out the emotion in you?

KENNEDY: Being mad, getting tired of people trying to think this is their land. Like I told you in there, we were here way before anybody else got here, of the eastern Oregon, Idaho, northern California and northern Nevada there. And it's tiring. It's the same battles that my ancestors had. Now it's just a different cavalry wearing a bunch of different coats, the way I see it.

SIDNER: What do you think would happen if it was your tribe that tried to take over that federal land?

KENNEDY: Oh, we would be shot up, blown up, in jail, handcuffed. Just being honest. They're used to killing us from way back and nothing has changed, really.

SIDNER: Why do you think their response is different this time?

KENNEDY: Because they're white. That's about it. I mean, that's as blunt as I can be, because of their skin color. And I don't know. That's how I feel about it.

SIDNER (voice-over): Sara Sidner, CNN, Princeton, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Next here on CNN NEWSROOM, the movie awards season just getting started with the Golden Globe Awards ceremony coming up this weekend. We'll take a look at who the front runners might be.

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[01:51:31] VAUSE: Next hour, British Academy of Film and Television Art, BAFTA, nominations will be announced for the best of 2015. BAFTA winners will be announced at London's Royal Opera House on February 14th. We'll let you know who is in the running as soon as we find out. The BAFTA nominations come just two days before Sunday's 73rd Annual Golden Globes ceremony honoring the best in film and television. It's the first major awards show of the season. Our very own Isha Sesay will be reporting live from the red carpet.

A little earlier, I spoke with goldderby.com managing editor, Chris Beachum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Chris, let's start with Ricky Gervais. He's preemptively apologized. He tweeted this out, "Because I can see the future, I'd like to apologize now for the things I said at next week's Golden Globes. I was drunk and didn't give a -- you can work out the rest."

(LAUGHTER)

This is a guy who fires insults off like heat-seeking missiles right into the crowd. What can we expect? CHRIS BEACHUM, MANAGING EDITOR, GOLDDERBY.COM: He is perfect for this

crowd. We interviewed him last summer. He took a three-year break and said he would never come back. But I asked him if maybe that break allowed him some freedom to think about coming back. He said maybe, so I thought there was a glimpse of hope there.

VAUSE: I think he's been storing up insults and ideas for the last three years.

BEACHUM: I do. I think he's raring to go.

VAUSE: It's interesting because he really targets celebrities. He picks them out. It's funny, but can be quite cruel at times.

BEACHUM: And one of his favorite targets, Mel Gibson, is back at a presenter this year. That will be an interesting moment.

VAUSE: That will be fun. Let's get into the films in the running for best drama. There doesn't really seem to be a clear front-runner here. What's your pick?

BEACHUM: I think it's going to be "Spotlight." It's got a directing nomination and a writing nomination, so it shows some wider support. And it seems to be the critic's pick all along the way. The Globes love to try to predict and help predict what the eventual Oscar winner will be.

VAUSE: They do. Didn't they pick the best picture last year?

BEACHUM: They didn't.

VAUSE: That's right.

BEACHUM: "Bird Man" lost for comedy film to "Grand Budapest."

VAUSE: You nailed that.

On the television side, "Game of Thrones" has never received a Global Globe. Could it be in the running this year?

BEACHUM: It's never won for series. It did win the Emmy a few months ago. So it might be primed now, but there aren't any acting nominations for that show, which is sometimes a signal.

I think it's going to be "Mr. Robot." They love to honor a first-year show that's really hot and be like the first people to honor that show.

VAUSE: Like the cool kids on the block.

BEACHUM: Yeah.

VAUSE: All the glamour of the red carpet made a lot more glamorous because Isha will be here this year. But this year, we've had the social media campaign by L'Oreal. They're taking to social media during the presentations and they're trying to encourage people to talk about their careers rather than what they're wearing. This is a big issue for a lot of women actors in Hollywood.

BEACHUM: Right. I think certainly that's the way to go. Why should they be treated any different than the men on the red carpet? But then you've got some real fashion icons this year, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett herself. So it would be nice if there was a -- you know they're going to ask the fashion questions.

VAUSE: Is it sexist to ask a woman what designer she's wearing?

BEACHUM: Why not ask Eddie or Leo DiCaprio.

[11:55:09] VAUSE: I never understood this. They do ask the guys, are you wearing Valentino. But why is it particularly sensitive for --

BEACHUM: I think if you only go down that road and you don't talk about the movie or the TV show, I think that's where they have a little bit of a problem with it.

VAUSE: That's a fair point.

Chris, we know what you'll be up, too, on Sunday night.

BEACHUM: Thank you.

VAUSE: Have fun. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Can't wait to see what Isha will be wearing, which designer. It'll be fun Sunday night.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

The news continues with Natalie Allen after a very short break. Thanks for being with us.

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[02:00:09] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: High tension on the Korean Peninsula as South Korea blasts propaganda across its northern border.