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Colombian Voters Narrowly Reject Agreement With FARC Rebels; Taliban Fighters Reportedly Attack Kunduz Overnight; Kanye West Stops Show For "Family Emergency"; NYT Reporter Defends Legitimacy Of Trump Tax Records; Caribbean Islands Brace For Hurricane Matthew; U.K. Business Adjust to Reality of Brexit; China's Puzzling TV Censorship. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 03, 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] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A historic peace deal in Colombia now on hold at best as voters surprisingly turn down an agreement with rebels.

The latest on Donald Trump's old taxes. The reporter who broke the story says she's ready for a threatened legal battle.

Plus, Kim Kardashian held up at gun point. We'll tell you how the reality star is doing now. She wasn't hurt, we're happy to say.

Welcome to our viewers around the world. Live in Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

A landmark peace deal that would end Latin America's longest running war now faces an uncertain future. Voters in Colombia said no to the government's deal with FARC rebels on Sunday. It took both sides years to work out this treaty. FARC's leader expressed sadness over the result but says the group will still work for a peaceful resolution. Colombia's president says a cease-fire will remain in place and negotiations will continue in Havana, Cuba. CNN's Rafael Romo is here now to talk about what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: The final result goes against all polls and expectations. The peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, was rejected by Colombian voters by less than one percentage point.

The opposition to the deal, led by former president Alvaro Uribe, was fierce and vocal.

Why, the former president questioned, did they choose to simplify a 297-page peace agreement by turning it into just one single question? Colombian voters could only say yes or no to the peace agreement in the referendum despite controversy over specifics like a lack of jail terms for rebels. The vote was also seen as a referendum on this man, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, the main proponent of the agreement. JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA (via translator): The

bilateral and definitive cease-fire and end of hostilities are still in effect. I have heard those who said no, and I have heard those who said yes. Everybody -- everybody, without exception, wants peace.

ROMO: These people behind me come from different parts of Colombia here to Cartagena to say no to the peace agreement. Their main point is that they are not willing to forgive a terrorist group, as they call the FARC, that has killed people, that has raped women.

There were multiple protests against the peace agreement leading up to the referendum. Just a few days ago, we ran into a group demonstrating in Cartagena.

Protesters say a peace agreement without real justice will never last. But this result, they say the government has a mandate from the people to renegotiate with the rebels.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are convinced that this peace agreement is not going to bring peace. We're convinced that it's going to bring more war to Colombia because unjustice brings more war. The only thing we want is justice. That's all we're asking for is justice.

ROMO: No one wants a return to fighting, but after four years of negotiations, what happens next for this week-old peace deal is again an open question.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And Rafael is back from Colombia and he's here with me now. You were there. We just saw you talking with people that were on the no side, that even during the story, this was not expected that the no's would prevail.

ROMO: It makes me think of the Brexit vote in the U.K. People expected that the yes vote was going to win. At one point over the summer, the advantage between the one and the other was about 20 to 30 percentage points, and this happens. It's a surprise in Colombia, it's a surprise in the international community, and to have seen U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week in Colombia supporting this and now to see it lose, it's just incredible to me.

ALLEN: Yes, it's really kind of the power of the people, just like with the Brexit thing as well. What was their overriding disappointment in this agreement?

ROMO: Most people found it very difficult to forgive. To forget about five decades of horror, atrocities, all kinds of different crimes committed by the FARC. They said, we cannot forgive, and we cannot go ahead with this until there's real justice.

ALLEN: Right. Because the justice that they worked out was that the rebels aren't going to serve time. They're going to be, in effect, as you said, do community service, and that just doesn't seem right to a lot of people. [01:04:58] ROMO: They were just expecting a little bit of jail time

and a more -- a recognition that they did a lot of harm to Colombia, before they can move on.

ALLEN: All right. Rafael Romo, thanks so much. We'll wait to see what happens next.

Journalist Simone Bruno is also following this developing story and he joins me now from Colombia's capital, Bogota. And Simone, you were saying as well, just to mirror what Rafael just said to me, that this really came as a surprise to the country.

SIMONE BRUNO, JOURNALIST: Yes, absolutely. Every single poll in the last weeks spoke about a difference of at least two to one for yes. So this came as a complete surprise. A complete surprise for supporters of yes (ph). They were gathering all around the country. They were waiting, watching TV for the results, and then they had this cold shower and actually their happiness quickly slide into despair. So you saw, like we saw a lot of people crying. Young people crying, which is really sad because this country has been known and has been accused most of the times, often, really often, to be cynical and to be indifferent when it comes to what is related to the conflict.

And so for the first time, you had this huge movement of people, young people, talking about peace and then you have this happens. And this has been really like a big surprise.

On the other side as well, I mean, ex-president Uribe was not expecting this result. His speech came really late, roughly three hours after the results. And it didn't really have anything specific to say. Well, actually, it changed a bit his position from a no to the peace agreement to a yes, but talking about unity of the country and to renegotiate the deal.

ALLEN: So what could this mean to the future of President Santos?

BRUNO: Yes. This is a huge blow to the political future of President Santos. Just a few days ago, we saw him signing this important agreement with FARC leader Timochenko in Cartagena. And there was huge support from the international community. Ban Ki-moon, as you said before, was there, as well as a lot of leaders, regional leaders, especially that came just for this occasion. So it was actually one of the main candidate for the Nobel prize. And now he has to go back again.

What he said is that he will never lose the chance to negotiate until the last day of his mandate. This is what he want to do now. He wants to keep on going, keep on negotiating. But of course, things are changing and nobody really knows what was going on, what will happen tomorrow.

ALLEN: Right. And does this perhaps throw the country off as far as its stability? That's something else that might be on the minds of some people.

BRUNO: Yes, well, this could be a concern. Because it's a confused time, it's a crisis time, and a lot of things may happen, but this is also like one of the most ancient democracy in Latin America, and this is one that never really felt is democracy coming to a risk, really. It's not like other countries that suffer coups and stuff like that. This country has like a solid democracy, and it seems like the two enemies, President Santos and former president Uribe, are actually trying to come together and to go over this surprise because honestly, both of them were really surprised with the results.

ALLEN: Well we'll wait and see if they're able to work out some other deal and whether the citizens will agree to that. Thanks so much for helping us understand the ramifications of this. Simone Bruno there in Bogota.

We are following reports of a coordinated Taliban attack on the Afghan city of Kunduz. A police official tells Reuters news service the fighters attacked from four directions and then entered the city. And the intense fighting, we are told, is still going on. Kunduz has been a frequent Taliban target. It fell briefly to the militants one year ago and was threatened again in April.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West was held up at gun point in Paris on Sunday. She's been overseas for Paris fashion week. A spokeswoman says two masked men dressed as police officers confronted West in her hotel room. She says the star is badly shaken but she wasn't hurt. Her husband, rapper Kanye West, was playing a concert in New York at the time and he abruptly left the show telling the crowd he had to go because of a family emergency.

[01:10:03] Quite an interesting week on the presidential campaign trail, like any other here. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing renewed criticism over his finances. "The New York Times" was able to get some of the billionaire's tax records from decades ago. A reporter says they were mailed to her anonymously. Showed up in her mailbox. The details are raising all kinds of questions. Our Cristina Alesci takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What these documents give us is a big number. A headline-grabbing number. And it raises all sorts of questions about Donald Trump's business dealings and his finances. One tax expert that I spoke to said, people are going to start raising questions about how aggressive Donald Trump potentially got with his deductions. But for now, we're focusing on that $916 million number. Here's some more insight on that.

Here's what "The New York Times" is reporting. Trump declared a loss of $916 million in 1995. And that loss could be used to cancel taxable income for potentially up to 18 years, according to tax experts the paper hired. Key details are still missing because "The New York Times" doesn't have Trump's complete tax returns, and CNN can't confirm the authenticity of the documents the paper does have.

But the report means, even if Trump made $916 million in the years after 1995, he could potentially have paid little or no taxes on that income. How is that possible? It all comes down to something called net operating loss, according to "The Times". When a business has more tax deductible expenses than income, you end up with what the IRS calls a net operating loss.

Now people might be asking, if Trump could write off such a large loss over so many years, why can't I do this? Most people are familiar with a different type of deduction, capital losses. Typically these are tied to stocks, bonds, and other investments, and there are different rules for those and limits on how you can use them. With Trump, we're most likely talking about a loss from operating a business, which, according to the IRS, is the most common reason for a net operating loss.

If Trump had much of his wealth tied up in businesses, any losses in those businesses might flow directly to him. So he could use them to reduce his own tax bill in future years. It's important to keep in mind that the tax code allows you to do this. The Trump campaign responded saying the candidate paid hundreds of millions of dollars in other taxes, including property and real estate taxes. But it didn't directly deny "The Times" reporting on the federal income tax.

And Trump himself responded to the report with this tweet -- I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. #failing@nytimes.

I spoke to the accountant cited in "The Times" story. He took issue with the story because Trump's income in subsequent years isn't public. So does this tell us that Trump lost all of this money only in 1995? The answer is no. Almost a billion dollars is a lot of money to lose. We don't know exactly what happened and when it happened.

We do know that his businesses were hurting in the early 1990s. Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, The Plaza Hotel in New York, for example. Operating losses from those businesses could have been listed on his tax returns earlier in the 1990s. And then he could have carried them over to 1995. But we actually don't even know if he used these losses to offset income in later years. The tax law says he could have, but without the returns from those later years, we can't know for sure. The big question is, do these documents help us understand how much Donald Trump is really worth? Again, the answer is no.

As for how much Donald Trump is really worth, his campaign puts his net worth at $10 billion. Independent analysts at Forbes say it's closer to $3.7 billion, and Bloomberg puts it at $3 billion. So still a lot of questions around that, but it's unlikely that any additional tax information is going to tell us how much he's worth overall. What it will tell us is how much he's earned for the year, how much he's given away to charity, and potentially shed light on how he does business.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"The New York Times" reporter who broke the Trump tax return story spoke with our media reporter Brian Stelter on Sunday. She defended her work and said the documents are legitimate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSANNE CRAIG, JOURNALIST, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Tax returns are hard to verify. There's only a few people who could verify them. The signatories on it were Marla Maples, Donald Trump, and Jack Mitnick was his former accountant. And David Barstow, my colleague, one of the reporters that I worked with on this story, went down to see Jack and had a long discussion with Jack about the taxes, and Jack Mitnick said they're legitimate.

[01:15:06] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In other words, when you see a story like this on the front page of "The Times", weeks of work had to go into checking this out. Fox had some doubts about your sourcing, but they also said you're trying to take down Donald Trump. Is that what you're doing?

CRAIG: I think they're his taxes, he's running for president, whether or not he's paid taxes or not, it's an incredibly important issue. There's pressure on him to release his tax returns. I think it's called reporting. Simple as that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think (ph) Fox just doesn't understand that?

CRAIG: I think that -- I guess they have an opinion. We think that we're doing our jobs, and part of that is to look for things like Donald Trump's taxes and to find indications of whether he's paid taxes or not. I mean, this is an important issue and I think that's sort of what we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a legal threat from the Trump Organization before you all published this story. I've been asking the Trump campaign this morning if they are going to follow through. They haven't replied to those questions. Are you expecting legal action?

CRAIG: I don't know. I don't think it's a crime to check your mailbox. That's what we did, and then we did some reporting. We definitely -- they told us they may sue and we're comfortable with the story and went ahead with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Barbara Bush, daughter of former Republican president George W. Bush, attended a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser on Saturday. She posed with a picture with longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin, which then made the rounds online. Abedin was co-hosting the event with "Vogue" editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. A spokesman for former president Bush did not respond to requests for comment nor did Clinton's aides. The sentiment may run in the family. Former president H.W. Bush, Barbara's grandfather, was overheard last month saying he was voting for Hillary Clinton.

Hurricane Matthew is battering Jamaica with heavy rain and flooding, and there are several more Caribbean countries that may get hit. We'll have the forecast for this powerful storm from Derek (ph) coming up here.

Plus, a majority of Hungarian voters reject the E.U.'s migrant quotas. We'll have that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE RILEY, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines. The USA have won the Ryder Cup in its 41st edition. It's the first time that America has won the competition since 2008. It finished up 17 to 11 with Ryan Moore beating Lee Westwood on the 18th green for that decisive point. Hazeltine turned red, white, and blue as the USA were victorious.

Tottenham fans know their team are heading in the right direction. And Sunday's home win against Manchester City proved it. Spurs took (inaudible) city right from the off, forcing an own goal from Aleksandar Kolarov in the ninth minute, before (inaudible) doubled their advantage, and that's how it would end. So not only did Spurs and city's (ph) long unbeaten (ph) start to the season, but also confirmed as their best ever start to a premier league campaign.

[01:19:56] And formula one took to the hot tracks in Malaysia where Lewis Hamilton was left extremely disappointed. Hamilton was 13 laps from the end when his luck deserted him. The flames busting out of the back of his Mercedes signaled that his race was over. He was obviously distraught. Red Bull made the most of Mercedes' misfortune, Daniel Ricciardo leading his team to a one two (ph) finish while (inaudible) finishes third where he now has a 23 point lead in the driver standings. Five races to go. And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: The Caribbean is bracing for Hurricane Matthew. The category 4 storm is already bringing a lot of rain and flooding to Jamaica. That's Kingston right there. And it's expected to hit Haiti and Cuba in the hours ahead. In Haiti, there are fears Matthew could be disastrous for the already weak infrastructure. The country is still struggling after the devastating earthquake in 2010. They have a long way to go, still. Now this. Let's get the latest from our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, who's got his eye on two storms. Derek --

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right, Natalie. It certainly seems and appears as if people are heeding the warnings ahead of Hurricane Matthew. This is an image supplied by the U.S. Navy. Women, spouses, and children, about 700 of them evacuated out of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba region, from the U.S. Naval air force base that's located there. Significant effort to try and get those people to safety ahead of Hurricane Matthew. This is now still a strong category 4 Atlantic hurricane. 230 kilometer per hour sustained winds. That's roughly 145 miles per hour.

Look what's to the north. Haiti, and we've got Kingston, Jamaica. Let's talk about where this storm's headed. Focusing in on the region and the topography, I want to zoom into the mountainous parts of western Haiti, because this is going to be significant, because the mountains are going to act almost as if a sponge was pushing up against them. So that mountainous region will actually extract a lot of the heavy rainfall and dump it in that particular area, instead of the Port-au-Prince region, although Port-au-Prince will still have significant amounts of rain.

We do expect this southern facing shoreline of Haiti to really feel the brunt of the storm surge. And that's one of the main concerns going forward for this particular location. So what exactly is storm surge? Well, we see that push of wind on the seas bringing up that sea right on that south facing shoreline. And the Tiburon Peninsula has the greatest surge threat there across western Haiti, so that is something we're going to monitor.

Also a concern going forward is the extremely strong winds with a landfall right over Western Cuba. They could have winds topping 200 kilometers rather easily when this storm finally exits across the Bahaman Islands as well as Turks and Caicos.

Look at the rainfall totals for this area, in excess of 500 millimeters. That means we have a potential for landslides and mud slides. There's the warnings and watches for the region. And where it goes from there, well, that is a big concern. We have to monitor the East Coast of the United States as well. On the other side of the world, I have to get to this because we have hurricane or typhoon Chaba threatening the Ryukyu Islands just south of mainland Japan. Natalie, very active here in the weather center today.

ALLEN: Yes, absolutely. So thank you, Derek. We'll wait and see the impact of both of these storms.

VAN DAM: Absolutely.

ALLEN: Well Hungarians have voted overwhelmingly to reject a European Union plan to resettle refugees. But not enough voters turned out to make Sunday's referendum count. Here's more from CNN's Erin McLaughlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A majority no-vote pushed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban was widely seen as a foregone conclusion. All eyes were on voter turnout. Fifty percent was needed for the results of this referendum to be considered valid. On Sunday, that threshold wasn't reached. Official electoral commission numbers show a turnout of just 43 percent. This despite the government's months- long campaign, millions of dollars spent to get people to the polls.

Billboards labeling migrants terrorists, leaflets calling European capitals no-go zones due to immigrants, a campaign as critics say was built on fear and xenophobia.

Opposition parties argue that this was all about Orban increasing his own power, warning that this could be a gateway leading Hungary out of the European Union. Something that a majority of Hungarians are very much against.

The opposition urged people simply not to vote, and those who did cast invalid ballots, complete with cartoons and caricatures, literally protest votes.

[01:25:02] Protest aside, Orban did prove that millions are behind his migration policies. However, if and when he goes to Brussels to try to negotiate, he'll arrive with a decidedly weaker hand. Erin McLaughlin, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Officials say militants attacked an Indian Army camp in the disputed Kashmir region late Sunday night. The Indian defense ministry said it was terrorists who opened fire on the camp but offered no more details. The fierce gunfire left one Indian paramilitary officer dead and another wounded. Our Mallika Kapur puts this renewed violence in context for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir are at a level we haven't seen in about 10 years. And the turning point really came about two weeks ago when another Indian Army base in the garrison town of Uri was attacked by militants, and India puts the blames clearly on Pakistan. Pakistan denies any involvement.

And a few days ago, we saw another violent incident when we heard from India that India said it conducted surgical strikes across the border on the Pakistani side of the line of control, which is a de facto border between the two countries. India said it did that because it was targeting terrorist bases. Pakistan again denies that and says there was no incursion into its territory and that there was cross- border shelling which resulted in two Pakistani soldiers being killed. So two very different versions of events there. But what this has done is basically created a huge amount of instability and uncertainty between these two neighboring countries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: There are fears of a drastic humanitarian crisis as the battle for Aleppo intensifies. Ahead, why survival there is becoming much more difficult.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:21] ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

Here are our top stories.

(HEADLINES)

ALLEN: A battle for the northern Afghanistan city of Kunduz is under way right now. Taliban fighters attacked the city from four different directions overnight.

Joining us with the latest on this attack is senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson. Ivan, what are you learning about this?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a furious fight currently under way, Natalie, for control of this northern city. And this coming after the Taliban claims that it mounted this attack from four different directions. What's remarkable about the news we're getting here is that both the African government officials we're talking to and Taliban spokesmen, their accounts of what's taking place are roughly the same. That the Taliban mounted this attack from multiple directions, that the offensive was launched before dawn on Monday, and now we have both sides battling for control of this city. The Afghan government forces are not only fighting on the ground but we're also hearing from a Western official that they're using helicopters. Some of the new fleet of MD-530 Warrior helicopters that have been provide to the Afghan air force to prevent the Taliban militants from getting deeper and deeper into the city.

One of the big concerns here is that it was roughly a year ago the Taliban briefly captured this city for several days after Afghan security forces were routed and fled en masse. At this point in time, a spokesman for the Afghan national police in Kunduz is vowing that this time the Taliban will not succeed in winning control of the city. But at least for the time being, we know there's a very fierce battle under way for control of this key northern Afghan city.

ALLEN: We certainly hope Kunduz is more fortified since they fell to the Taliban before to take them on this time. We'll have to wait and see.

We know, Ivan, the Taliban has claimed to surround other cities in Afghanistan. So overall, how is this war going?

WATSON: Well, it's remarkable to hear about the possible fall of Kunduz, or at least a battle for control of Kunduz. Almost 15 years after anti-Taliban forces backed by the U.S. military were able to rout the Taliban from that northern city. I was in the region at that time, nearly 15 years ago, when the Taliban were in complete retreat. And now the Taliban, they have succeeded in a real resurgence. According to the U.S. military, Afghan government casualties this year are 20 percent higher than they were this time last year in this 15- year-long war against the Taliban. The latest statement, the Taliban claims not only have they made advances in this northern city of Kunduz but also claim to have surrounded the provincial capitols of two southern capitols. And if you check with Western government sources in Kabul, with Afghan government sources, yes, in fact, the Taliban do have large parts of the countryside in those southern provinces under their control. And they have had the district capitols, the provincial capitols surrounded for some time. The war is not going well for the Afghan government in 2016 -- Natalie?

ALLEN: Does not sound like it. We'll wait and see what happens here with this latest siege on Kunduz.

Thank you. Ivan Watson there for us in Hong Kong.

We turn to the Syria -- to Syria, and the Syrian army is closing in on rebels in the besieged Aleppo and it's urging them to leave. The military says they will have safe passage. But there's no safety inside the city. The U.N. aid chief says the bombing and shelling is subjecting people to savagery. No human should have to endure. We're talking about families and children.

Nic Robertson has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:35:42] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The Syrian government is absolutely ramping up pressure on that eastern rebel-held area of Aleppo. According to the U.N., the situation there is dire. They're deeply concerned. 275,000 people, the U.N. says, live in that area. They're short of food, short of fuel, which means they can't make bread. Water has been cut off because the water pumping station in the east of Aleppo has been too badly damaged. The U.N. says the hospitals are being hit on multiple occasions. What we're seeing over the weekend, those hospitals continue to be hit.

And in the north of that rebel-controlled eastern part of Aleppo, a hospital has now been taken control of by the Syrian government. Those forces have a greater strategic advantage now against the rebels. The rebels we're told using up ammunition trying to defend that area. That's ammunition they won't be able to replace because they're surrounded. That gives the Syrian government more leverage. The Syrian government now saying that rebel fighters can leave the eastern enclave of Aleppo and they'll be given safe passage out backed by Russia.

Russia, this weekend, ramping up its rhetoric against the United States. We heard Saturday Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had a discussion and discussed ways they may normalize the situation. The background to that is the foreign ministry in Moscow is telling the United States not to interfere in the situation on the ground in Syria saying that would have dire consequences throughout the region. So, the rhetoric ramping up. People in the eastern part of Aleppo under more and more pressure by the day.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Istanbul, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Joining me now is CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

Mark, thank you for joining us.

We are looking at something huge, obviously, going down in Aleppo. The Syrian government has bombarded the city with bombs and a missile, all seeming to target places where people gather like hospitals and mosques. What does that signal?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It signals an upcoming humanitarian crisis, Natalie. The combination of targeting hospitals by both Russian n Syrian forces certainly a war crime in many instances is contributing to this humanitarian crisis and is preparing a disaster as Syrian forces, backed by the Russian counterparts, continue to go into that city and counter the rebel forces that are there. It's going to be devastating. And it's something that I think many people predicted.

ALLEN: Right. This is the run-up to what will happen next. The troops are massing around the city. Clearly, Assad wants to take this city back. Is there any recourse since Russia is aiding them for the U.S. militarily or diplomatically?

HERTLING: Militarily, probably not. Diplomatically, I know Secretary Kerry from all reports is continuing to try and influence the situation. But it's very dire right now, Natalie. This is something that's -- that he has been attempting to do with the entire force of the State Department for the last several months. Frankly, when you're dealing with Russia's support of the Assad regime, and they have used the various cease-fires and halts in hostilities to try and gain advantage over the last several weeks and months, it's going to be very difficult to challenge them in this regard. They have mounted an extremely capable and devastating air campaign with both Syrian air forces and helicopter born forces along with Russian fast-moving aircraft and helicopters. The targeting has been indiscriminate, and as U.S. forces go into areas where we are conducting combat operations, we try very hard to try and limit civilian casualties. In this case, it has been part of the design of the Syrian forces and Russian forces to increase the civilian casualties to bring them to their side. We've seen that by the bombing of the multiple hospitals. The fact that there's one hospital left in Aleppo, a city of two million people, and it only has about 300 beds, that's unbelievable from the standpoint of a health care perspective. And it will certainly contribute to future humanitarian crises as the U.N. has already reported.

ALLEN: And what would the fall of Aleppo, so central to the rebels, mean to the overall rebel effort to knock Assad out?

[01:40:10] HERTLING: Well, from a tactical and operational perspective it is going to open up what are called lines of communications, the ability for the Syrian army to move from one place to another and to regain all of -- control of all of Syria. That's the key focus that has been the designation of the Syrian government and the Syrian military, to try and connect all the places that have been under the control of rebels. They have done that successfully in many areas. They are -- they have been thwarted by not only the free Syrian forces but also the Kurdish forces in many cases. But there's also that combination of the multiple actors that are on the battlefield, which are difficult to separate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Again, that was our military analyst, Mark Hertling, speaking with us there.

Britain has announced when the formal Brexit process will begin. We'll have details on that and a look at how British businesses are doing 100 days after the vote. That's coming up here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Britain's exit from the E.U. could happen in 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May laid out a process for the plan for the first time since the Brexit vote in June.

Our London correspondent, Max Foster, has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Brexit means Brexit. That's all we've really understand about Theresa May's plan for getting Britain out of the European Union. We weren't sure how committed she was to the process at all. Today, we had some clarity on that. So Britain will be leaving the European Union, and the process to start that so-called Article 50 will be invoked at the end of March, which means Britain will leave the European Union by the end of the decade.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:45:07] THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It was right to wait before triggering Article 50. But it is also right that we should not let things drag on too long. Having voted to leave, I know that the public will soon expect to see on the horizon the point at which Britain does formally leave the European Union. So let me be absolutely clear. There will be no unnecessary delays in invoking Article 50. We will invoke it when we are ready, and we will be ready soon. We will invoke Article 50 no later than the end of March next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: When it comes to it, untangling Britain's relationship with the E.U. will be horribly complicated. Not least, all of those E.U. laws that currently apply in the U.K. Theresa May shed some light on how she sees that happening. And effectively, E.U. law applied to the U.K. will be enshrined in U.K. law. After that, the British parliament will have to decide for itself which bits it wants to get rid of and which bits to keep. That's complicated in itself. Before that, she's got all the negotiation as well with the European Union. It's going to be very tough, indeed. Effectively, she said she can't tell us much more because she wants a negotiating position and saying too much now will give that away. So there will be no running commentary on how she's going to handle these negotiations, but she has at least shed some light on how she plans to go into them.

Max Foster, CNN, Birmingham.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: "CNN Money" editor-at-large, Richard Quest, now has more on how British businesses are faring since the Brexit vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RICHARD QUEST, CNN MONEY EDITOR-AT-LARGE: 100 days ago and the forecasts were that Britain was about to fall apart. Since then, like my camper van, Brexit has kept going.

(MUSIC)

QUEST: Big Ben still looms large over Westminster, the lions sit proud in Trafalgar Square, and Churchill guards parliament as he did in 1973 when Britain entered the E.U.

At the Best of Britannia Exhibition, quality British goods were on display.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have a little smell first.

QUEST: Some of the craftsmen were gleeful at the post-Brexit boom.

UNIDENTIFIED BUSINESS OWNER: For it's been brilliant. It's literally two to three days after Brexit was announced and the price of the pound went down. Basically, the phone was ringing off the hook. Might sound crazy because we're a British brand but virtually everything we do is export. All the foreign collectors tend to want to buy our watches.

QUEST: The exhibition was showcasing what Britain does best, like these woolens.

His business has been clobbered since the vote. And it's only been 100 days.

UNIDENTIFIED BUSINESS OWNER: Completely -- I had my first was in Berlin in men's wear. And the week after Brexit they canceled their order because they were not sure they were going to be able to market a British brand in Germany.

QUEST (on camera): It has a certain charm to it, doesn't it?

(voice-over): Living with that uncertainty for the next two years is something these companies large and small are going to have to get on with.

June Savon (ph) was a strong remainder.

JUNE SAVON (ph), BUSINESS OWNER: Beautiful. You've got a good head of hair.

QUEST: You mean it's still there? That's what you really mean.

(LAUGHTER)

SAVON (ph): At the end of the day, I still don't believe it was the right decision.

QUEST: Get over it.

SAVON (ph): It's easier said than done. We've got to make the most of it. I'm really worried. At the end of the day, there's no guarantee we'll remain in the single market. If we don't, what does that mean?

(MUSIC)

QUEST (voice-over): The British don't need much of an excuse to be eccentric. At the classic car boot sale where British and European beauties were on display, there was optimism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're human beings. We're British. Poof al above that, above that, we're a youthful nation.

QUEST (on camera): The last 100 days have been described as a phony war. Britain and Europe feeling each other out. The next six months is when it starts to get really interesting. And Britain's Brexit battle truly gets under way.

Richard Quest, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:49:42] ALLEN: Coming up here, Chinese regulators view a number of topics as taboo for their broadcasters. We'll tell you what they have banned in their unusual censorship coming up here.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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ALLEN: Here in the U.S., popular shows like "Game of Thrones" and others, notorious for nudity and violence. But all that doesn't fly in China. Sometimes bizarre media regulations have created a black list of things you cannot do on TV.

Our Matt Rivers explains from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): When the popular Chinese drama, "The Saga of Wuzatien," was abruptly pulled from the air in January last year, the government said it was for technical reasons. When it was broadcast again, many fans noticed something a bit different. Maybe you did, too. The ever-present cleavage of the female characters was gone, fallen victim to digital zooms and close- ups. Such is life in the world of Chinese medium where strict government censorship controls many things beyond just cleavage.

New regulations say shows that promote Western lifestyles are no good. Quote, "Foreign-inspired shows are also a problem." Media reports say Chinese TV stations were warned to put South Korean projects on hold after a U.S.-backed missile defense system was announced there, a move Beijing doesn't like. No shows featuring the children of celebrities are allowed either. This show, "Dad, Where Are We Going," did that. Now it's cancelled. Plus, any displays of homosexuality are forbidden. An Internet show

about a relationship between two teenage boys was quickly pulled in February despite getting 10 million views in just one day after its release.

(on camera): The following things are also banned: joking about Chinese traditions or, quote, "classic material," sensationalizing private affairs, relationships or family disputes, or putting stars, Internet celebrities or billionaires on a pedestal. You also can't show anyone drinking a beer, although, to be fair, I can't do that on CNN either. You can't show anyone lighting up a cigarette or anyone traveling through time. Yes, even time travel can't escape Chinese censors.

(voice-over): Some of these restrictions might seem odd and you can spend all day speculating why they're in place. The government here rarely shares its motivations. So for now, no Western influence, no time travel, no cleavage, and no stated reason why.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And sometimes CNN can disappear from television in China.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

Next up, Rosemary Church will have more news from around the world. Thanks for watching.

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