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No Way Out in Aleppo; Trump Taking Kids to Work; Filipino President Duterte Admits Killings; Taking ISIS Out; House Shopping in D.C.; Taxes Raised; Emotional Trial. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired December 15, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: No way out yet. A stop ceasefire in eastern Aleppo is apparently back on but the residents hoping to escape the devastated city and still for their chance.
The president of the Philippines does, he killed suspected drug dealers because he wanted to show police they could do it to. We'll bring you reaction to Rodrigo Duterte's latest revelations.
And take your kids to work. It is becoming a regular fixture for the U.S. president-elect. We'll examine how that might affect the new administration.
Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
And we're following quickly developing situations in Syria for you. Activist in eastern Aleppo say convoys carrying wounded and rebel fighters out of the city have been fired upon and that there have been some injuries, but so far we've been unable to reach Syrian regime forces and Russian officials to comment on those claims.
Rebel say they reach a new ceasefire deal a day after one fell apart on Wednesday that Turkish president is calling for aid for Aleppo's people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): We have taken all necessary measure to deliver aid to our sisters and brothers rescued from Aleppo. I called on the United Nations, where are you? We are ready to give all kinds of support and we will, but a humanitarian corridor is needed, that is why we make efforts.
We are fully prepared for those who may come to Turkey along with those who will go to Idlib. If they come to Turkey we are ready to embrace them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Now thousands of civilians who have been trapped in eastern Aleppo for months thought it would all be over by now. That was until the ceasefire unraveled within hours on Wednesday. Details from ITV's Dan Rivers.
DAN RIVERS, ITV NEWS REPORTER: Aleppo thought this would be the day peace would finally prevail. But this afternoon that glimmer of hope was shattered in the most brutal fashion.
President Assad's tank and artillery once again unleashing everything they had including this bright burning substance possibly white phosphorous. For those trapped inside it was terrifying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONTHER ETAKY, ALEPPO RESIDENT: There are families here. We are -- we have families here and that will be a danger for them. I have a family. I have a baby boy five months still -- still here. We want to just evacuate out of the city to safe place.
LINA SHAMY, SYRIAN ACTIVIST: Criminal Assad regime and the Iranian have rouge the ceasefire and they were back to attack the civilians and to continue the genocide. Civilians are stuck again in the city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: It was a tragic end to a day which had started with such a promise. Before dawn more than 30 buses were waiting to evacuate rebels and civilians but the lack of trust between both sides that's all the deal break down before a single fighter have boarded.
With a gathering light it was clear the plan to drive them to rebel territory a few miles to the west of the city was in tosses, they made arguments over new conditions imposed by Iran.
But for ordinary Aleppons made homeless by the fighting the international wrangling means just one thing, more suffering. Their Aleppo's airport are warehouse complex is now home to thousands camping out on freezing concrete floors, the inevitable results of a war that's been allowed to rage for years.
This is what it looks like when a city is emptied by war. There are thousands of people in this refugee camp and 500 or so arriving every single day. It is bitterly cold in this warehouse and they are left to huddle around a fire to try and keep warm. You got to wonder where is the international community.
Tonight, the temperature is plummeting well below zero, some don't even have shoes, grown men are shivering, so how is a baby supposed to survive?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): My grandson is orphaned. His father and mother were killed. We don't have anything to wear, we leave everything behind to come here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: The most vulnerable have been left with nothing, aid workers can't understand why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The people here we have so usually full, we have to think and the weather is so cold. They can't handle it with this weather. They can't -- they just need shelter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: But across this ravage city there is desolation that will take decades to rebuild. So many homes emptied their families, some of whom will never return.
[03:05:04] Dan Rivers, ITV News, Aleppo.
FOSTER: Jomana Karadsheh is following all this for us from Amman in Jordan. Jomana, first of all, the evacuations why this continued hold up.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just so you know, Max, that this situation has really been developing so fast and it's seen that these evacuations were just about to commence. They seem to be eminent, but the reports we're getting from various sources on the ground, now they are reporting that the convoy that was going out with these evacuees, ambulances, and other vehicles, the same came under fire.
That's according to activists including the Aleppo Media Center. Now we're also hearing from a doctor, one of the doctors left in this besieged neighborhoods, Dr. Hamzah Hatib (Ph) we're told, CNN, that at least one person was killed and four others were wounded when these vehicles came under fire.
We're also hearing from that rescue group, the White Helmets, they're also saying that one of their volunteers was wounded, they say that he was in a heavy vehicle that was clearing the route for these ambulances. As they were leaving the besiege neighborhood toward the meeting point, and they say that he was wounded by a sniper fire.
Now we of course, we cannot independently verify where this fire came from but the activists on the ground and the White Helmets are saying that this came from the regime and their allied militias on the ground. Something we cannot verify and we have not heard yet from the regime or their allies about this.
Of course, this is a very fast moving situation, very fluid situation with this latest outbreak of violence, Max. We will bring you more as we find out more from our sources on the ground.
FOSTER: So many parties involved here, so many different countries involved here, I guess a lot of it is just getting coordination in going between those groups and a unified message really about what's going on.
KARADSHEH: Absolutely. It's such a complex process, the situation on the ground is so complicated. You're not talking about just two worrying sides here, we're talking about so many different players on the ground, you're talking about regional players, international players who were involved in this.
But when we -- what we saw yesterday, Max, that delay when that evacuations were supposed to take place and all of a sudden that turned into confrontation and bombardment by both sides. And what we were told by opposition sources with that it was the Iranians who were delaying the implementation of the deal, that they were unhappy with the deal that was brokered by Turkey. And it was between the Russians and the opposition fighters and that they have their own demands that they wanted included deal.
But it did seem, just a couple of hours ago, that possibly there was an agreement. We heard from, you know, it was positive sign, let's say that we heard from the allies of the regime, Hezbollah's affiliated media, Al-Manar TV also reported that the preparations were underway for the evacuations out of eastern Aleppo, something we had seen 24 hours earlier where we were hearing this mostly from the Russians and the opposition who were involved in this deal.
But it does seem that this is -- this -- the situation now is really fast changing on the ground and a lot of concern for their civilians for the wounded who were scheduled to be evacuated in urgent need of medical attention, Max.
FOSTER: OK. Jomana, thank you very much indeed.
And ISIS militants trying to hold on to Mosul may be just a fraction of what once was a very large fighting force over the border.
Now U.S. official says 75 percent of ISIS fighters who were wiped out by coalition air strikes.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more details on that.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: As President Obama prepares to hand off the fight against ISIS to the new commander in chief, Donald Trump, the White House says there is significant progress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT MCGURK, SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR THE GLOBAL COALITION TO COUNTER ISIL: The number of battle ready fighters inside Iraq and Syria is now at its lowest point that it has ever been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: The U.S. estimates they are now 12,000 to 15,000 ISIS personnel, a dramatic decline from the peak in September 2014 when ISIS had amassed close to 32,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
ISIS had always been able to replace its ranks, moving people across the Turkish border into Syria, but no more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MCGURK: ISIL now has no access to international border and this is significantly impacted the overall campaign because they are now a very isolated entity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Based on estimates from nearly 17,000 coalition strikes, the U.S. believes 50,000 ISIS fighters in total have been killed over the last two years.
[03:10:08] Its ranks flushed by nearly 75 percent. The top coalition commander says that's only part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN TOWNSEND, COMBINED JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: We've taken back over half of the land that Iraq, for example, lost ISIL in 2014. So, I think that's a major of the progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now the top priority get ISIS out of its self-declared capital i Raqqah, Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOWNSEND: We also know that they are plotting attacks on the west and we know that central to external operations plotting is the city of Raqqah, and that's why we need to get down there and isolate that city as fast as we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: U.S. Special Operations Forces watch Raqqah around the clock from drones overhead. It's all led to key intelligence and a critical strike. One drone struck a vehicle with ISIS leaders inside. Operatives that had been involved, according to the U.S. in attacks in the west. Two said to have facilitated the deadly attacks in Paris last year.
But even with the death of many fighters ISIS has not given up the fight. ISIS has retaken the area around Palmyra and captured Syrian regime weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOWNSEND: Some armored vehicles and various guns and other heavy weapons possibly some air defense equipment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: The U.S. now watching closely to see if in fact those weapons possibly and could shouldered fired missiles will threaten U.S. troops.
Of course, there are still plenty of challenges; one of the enduring worries is that ISIS's ideology will still appeal to fighters around the world who may be inspired to stage lone wolf attacks.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
FOSTER: And also the U.S. and critics are raising conflicts of interest in terms after Donald Trump brought his children to work once again. This time it was a Trump Tower summit with leaders from Apple Mac, Tesla, and other tech giants as well.
CNN's Sara Murray reports on that.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Donald Trump transition turning into quite a family affair. As tech executives track to trump Tower, the Trump children, Eric, Ivanka, and Don Jr., all sat in on the meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I just want to say to everybody this is a truly amazing group of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: And as a president-elect taps Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke to lead the Interior Department, a source says Don Jr. help interview candidates for that post. Meanwhile, another source says Eric Trump sat in on a meeting with Mitt Romney and Donald Trump evaluated his secretary of state options.
With Trump waits to turn to his business operations over to those two sons the opportunity for conflict of interest appears abundant, but not to Trump transition aides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Bottom line is that he's been very clear from day one with his family, with the -- the role his family plays and the trust that he has in them in terms of how they guide decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: There's no sign that family's influence is whining though. Once Trump move to the White House the first lady's office is plated to become the first family's office to help incorporate Ivanka Trump.
But Trump's hope is elsewhere as he chatted with Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, Apple's Tim Cook, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and others about growing U.S. tech jobs, applauding the tech luminaries he loves to insult that in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There's no one in this room and anything we can do to help this go along and we're going to be there for you and you'll call my people, you'll call me, it doesn't make any difference. We have no formal chain of command around here. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Those compliments are far cry from the time Trump accuse Bezos who owns the Washington Post of buying the newspaper for purposes of keeping taxes down of his no profit company Amazon. While Bezos suggested it was time to send Trump to space. As Trump pick the brains of the business community his team is turning to how best to execute the president-elect's legislative priorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We're probably going to leave with Obamacare repeal and then replace, then you'll have tax, small tax reform package and then a bigger tax reform package at the end of April.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: And Trump is bringing to the defense of Paul Ryan, a former critic and a key player in ensuring the success of his agenda on the Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Paul Ryan, I've come to appreciate him. And you know honestly, he's like a fine wine. Every day goes by I get to appreciate his genius more and more. Now if he ever goes against me I'm not going to say of that, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: But Trump's defense work doesn't end there. He's also using his thank you tour to stand up for his pick for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil CEO, Rex Tillerson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:15:02] TRUMP: Rex is friendly with many of the leaders in the world that we don't get along with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Sara Murray, New York.
FOSTER: Well, not only will Ivanka Trump be getting an office in the White House, she is also hunting for new home in Washington, apparently.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more on that.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With the incoming administration the nation's capital is getting a boost of new glassy, glamorous and mega rich resident, each now on the hunt for premier Washington address.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are preparing to move to D.C. with their three young children. Sources tell CNN this past Sunday they were out house shopping in the richly northwest neighborhood of Georgetown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: I'm incredibly proud to play a small role in debunking this caricature of what a working woman looks like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: They could go the iconic route matching up one of the hottest pristine in D.C. Jackie Kennedy Onassis's former 6-bedroom and 5.5. bathroom mansion with a price tag of $9 million. Or just blocks away something more in line with the Manhattan apartment they live in now.
This sprawled penthouse condo is at the Ritz-Carlton residences locking in as the most expensive condo on the market in Washington and nearly $12 million.
But D.C.'s new power couple aren't the only well-heeled headed to Washington in the market for new home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE-ANNE WEISS, VICE PRESIDENT, TTR SOTHEBY'S INTERNATIONAL REALTY: We know that there are new cabinet members searching for real estate already and they are outing about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Since Election Day, high-end luxury real estate agent say the top echelon of their business is booming at a level not seen during the previous changing of the guards between administrations. Due to the striking amount of deep-pocketed future White House officials flooding Washington.
Trump's cabinet picks forming a long line of multimillionaires and billionaires already to fork over big bucks and putting the priority on opulent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER RITZERT, VICE PRESIDENT, TTR SOTHEBY'S INTERNATIONAL REALTY: The first people who have arrive to have expressed strong preference from luxury properties and turn-key condition and in excellent locations close in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Among those close neighborhoods that fit the bill the northwest neighborhood of Kalorama where the Obama's will be renting their post-White House home. The storied Watergate hotel home of some of the luminaries of administrations passed, and the Massachusetts heights neighborhood which post the most expensive home for sale right now in D.C., a lavish $20 million estate.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
FOSTER: Now the Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of the tech giants who met up with Donald Trump. What the president-elect is asking Apple to do and how it could jack up the price of your iPhones.
But first, shopping for a new homes or car in United States is about to get more expensive. We'll explain why next on CNN NEWSROOM.
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What a few hours across portion of the northern United States coldest air there in place. At about two years' time for portions of Illinois onto the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota this high temperatures will struggle to reach anywhere close to the freezing mark in its couple of days.
And it's a one two blast of Arctic air. One of them scoots off towards the northeastern United States, a second one enters on a western periphery here so a lot of that cold air want to spill back in towards places around the western plains and also parts of the south as well.
And notice the trend for places like New York City high temperatures of minus 4, you notice how quickly normality returns there at 15 degrees. While Washington, D.C. minus 5, minus 2 before the double digits come back into the positive territory.
But lake effects snow cranking up across portions of the Great Lakes here as tremendous cold there goes over relatively warm waters across that region and now towards the western United States, the storm norm most of the action actually originates from. This is wide open so it will continue to bring in wet weather around the western U.S.
And the National Weather Service here highlighting the maps like a Christmas tree of all sorts of color associated with wintery weather advisories and warnings and also alerts across this region.
And notice the flooding concern very high. Some of these areas could pick up almost a foot of rainfall into the highest elevations of northern California. Of course you transition that into the Sierra Nevada and tremendous water resources in the way of fresh snow.
FOSTER: Well, the U.S. economy is healthy and its growing so the Federal Reserve has decided that it's time to raise interest rates. The Fed Chair Janet Yellen announced the quarter of a percentage point hike on Wednesday.
Let's get to our Richard Quest for a bit more on that.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The move by the Fed was widely telegraph and expected so no surprise there. And to some extent, even though this number down 118 on the Dow that might suggest it was a rather ugly day. The reality could have been far, far worse, and not only that, volume was low at 2400 million shares. So, essentially we can't say that the stock market took a quarter point rise in its stride even though, hey, this is probably because they've seen what was happening and they've seen the prospect about the three further rate raises in 2017.
The Fed almost certainly has now embarked on a data dependent rate raising cycle. The speed of which cannot be determined. Now, largely because it depends on Donald Trump's economic policies.
Now when the Fed chair was ask about Mr. Trump's from shown (Ph) for tweeting criticism at companies and even herself, she wasn't raising to debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: I'm not going to offer the incoming president advice about how to conduct himself in policy. I'm a strong believer in the independence of the Fed. We have been given the independence by Congress to make decisions about monetary policy in pursuit of our due mandate objectives of maximum employment and inflation. And that is what I intend stay focus on. That's what the committee is focus on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The one thing of which we can be sure there will be more rate raises in 2017.
Richard Quest, CNN, New York.
FOSTER: Well, the European international markets has just open this half past hour actually, and right now you can see that there are all up, not significantly, perhaps the Paris CAC got the most heading towards 1 percent.
But let's get the reaction here from CNN Money Europe editor Nina dos Santos. The question, you know, as these markets open up is what impact that will happen to the rest of the world.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPPONDENT: Yes, what impact, the fact that the fed had signaled that there may be one more rate rise that people are expecting in the years to come. That's the key thing that people are looking at this morning, max.
But as you can see, European markets actually shrugging this off despite the fact that Asian markets have live at more of a turbulent session as they have started closing for their session today.
The reason why European markets is also shrugging this off is because when you see interest rates coming up in the United States that means a stronger dollar, and that means a little bit of weakness for some of these currencies like, for instance, the euro that that's been quite strong enough and that's been hampering some of the exports activities at some of the big European players.
Now we also have another big -- Central Bank that's going to be making a big decision later on today, that's the Bank of England. The big question is will what's being said at the Fed have any bearing on the thoughts of the monetary policy committee here in the U.K. when it comes to interest rates.
[03:25:05] Probably enough but it may be that they may have slight and more of a hawkish stance because they've got to try to align themselves with what's being said in states, I don't know neither side (Inaudible).
FOSTER: The U.S. does tend to lead on these things. It does suggest that, you know, over the next year or so you are going to see a general rise in interest rates from these historic lows.
DOS SANTOS: That's right. Now remember that this is only the second time in a decade that the Fed decided to hike rates, Max, but as you quite rightfully point out reach of this pointing before it's all about the signaling of how many rate raises are likely to come from here. And that was where people were slightly surprised.
Here's how Janet Yellen put it. She more or less said that it was a vote of confidence in the world's largest economy this rate rise, and the fact that more rate raises are going to be coming from here signals that the U.S. economy is stronger than people probably were expecting to. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YELLEN: Our decision to raise rates is certainly be understood as a reflection of the confidence we have in the progress the economy is made, and our judgment effect progress will continue and the economy is proven to be remarkably resilient. So, it is a vote of confidence in the economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: So, Max, those are the look at how the U.S. economy is going today versus 10 years ago when the Fed, remember, was in the that slash burned face of cutting interest rates right down to the lowest that they have ever been. Well, unemployment it's not at full employment almost the United States under 5 percent, it was about 10.8 percent about a decade or so ago, and wages have started rising as well.
They've managed to get start to get a grip on the issue, also with underemployment where people are having to take two jobs to make ends meet. And if you take a look at here in the United Kingdom, again, they are apparels with that situation. We have the closest level to unemploy -- full employment that we've seen for many generations. Again, under 5 percent, wages have started to rise.
But both of these two economies do face big uncertainties. Here in the U.K. we face the potential onslaught of Brexit come the first quarter of next year. And over in the United States they have big question marks about what the President-elect Donald Trump is going to do.
As you heard there, Janet Yellen in Richard's piece where saying she didn't want her for too much advice for the incoming president, but this is the key thing. She did say she didn't think that a big infrastructure spending push which she has planned on the cards would necessarily be needed to help the U.S. thoughtful employment. So, maybe she is saying, well, you don't need to spend that much because it might be necessary the U.S. economy is already in a good state she said.
FOSTER: We'll show you who is listening or let's see what he does when he comes into power. Thank you very much indeed, Nina.
A shocking admission from the Philippine president, meanwhile, about his time as a mayor. What he said about summary executions back then. That's coming up.
And we're now asking some of the evidence against the man accused of the Charleston Church massacre, why prosecutors say Dylann Roof hopes to start a race war.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Live from London, I'm Max Foster. Let's update you on our top stories this hour then.
Evacuation preparations underway in Aleppo for civilians that need medical attention the doctor in charge of organizing logistics says one person was killed and four others were wounded when some of the ambulances were fired upon.
We've been unable to reach Syrian government and Russian officials to any confirmation of this.
Meanwhile, several sources say there are also preparations happening to evacuate rebels.
In Tennessee, two juveniles charged with arson and deadly wildfires could face life in prison if prosecutors also charge them with first- degree murder and they're convicted for the wild fires that killed 14 people and ravage the city of Guttenberg for weeks. And authorities are still investigating whether the suspects started the fire on purpose or they were reckless.
President -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte admits he killed suspected criminals when he was Mayor of Davao City. In the past six months -- or in the six months of Mr. Duterte's presidency so far more than 5900 deaths have been reported in his war on drugs.
CNN correspondent Saima Mohsin joins me from Bangkok in Thailand. These comments are extraordinary when you hear them in his own words the very matter in fact.
Saima, take us these comments that the president made that are pretty remarkable.
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: yes. Absolutely, Max. Extraordinary comments. He openly admitted to killing suspect himself. He said that he was trying to teach and set an example to other policemen saying that if I can do, so can you. Now this is when he was the mayor of Davao.
And we've seen these admissions from him before. But this is the first time that he's done it from the Office of the President of the Philippines as the president of that country. An extraordinary admission. It's been condemned far and wide, except there are some defenses coming forward.
The justice secretary has defended him saying that killing suspects doesn't mean you violated the law, it depends on the circumstances and maybe there was a situation that force him to do so, as the justice secretary put in there.
And actually, Max, are ultimately my last live shot with you, I've have a number of messages from Filipino friends saying "actually me and my family in the Philippines are happy about the action being taken by President Duterte." In fact, a poll recently showed that while they are unhappy or uncomfortable with his responses in terms of international relations and reaction to President Obama, for example, they don't mind the way he is tackling the problem of drugs in the Philippines.
Now contrast that with Senator Leila de Lima. Now she is the former Justice Secretary, a human rights activist and a lawyer herself, she says she fears for her life because of her vocal criticism and she also thinks that action needs to be taken against the president.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEILA DE LIMA, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: I should say that that is an impeachable offense. That is a culpable violation of the Constitution. That is betrayal of public trust and that constitute high crimes because these are mass murderers.
[03:35:01] Mass murderers certainly fall under the category of high crimes and high crimes is a ground for impeachment under a Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHSIN: Yes, tough words already saying that perhaps President Duterte should be impeach, and she feels that there are grounds for that. And Human Right Watch, Max, has also come out saying that this statement takes the meaning of state sanctioned violence to a whole new level. Max?
FOSTER: Really extraordinary. Saima, thank you very much indeed. For more on Duterte's war on drugs do go to cnn.com/philippines, there you'll find an in-depth look at how the battle is being fought, a look inside the country's overcrowded jails and much more. It's all online at cnn.com/philippines.
Now, China says weapon systems that has installed on islands in the South China Sea offer self-defense it allows under international law. A U.S. think-tank says these images show anti-aircraft guns that could defend against cruise missiles.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said Beijing does not intend to militarize the islands.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong. Kristie, this is obviously a very high on the agenda of international agenda right now, because that's what Donald Trump has been saying about it as well.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And then there's new evidence for him to react too. This evidence here of Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea it comes from an American think-tank and its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
These images show that China appears to have installed weapons on all seven of the islands is built out in the South China Sea. Now these images that were taken last month but they were released this week.
Now take a look at Hughes Reef, this is one of the smallest manmade islands. The squares highlight this hexagon shape platforms they're all believed to hold anti-aircraft guns. There is a much larger base on this reef, it's called the Fiery Cross, and here you can see all four defense structures point out to sea.
AMTI says that these pictures show that "Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands. These islands are claimed by China and several of its neighbors."
And reacting to this report Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs just issued this statement, and it says this. I mean, "China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the waters nearby."
And as for the necessary military installations they are mainly for self-defense. Now, China has long been citing this historic boundary. It calls the 9-dashline to justify its claims.
But an international court ruled against Beijing earlier this year, nearly a third of the world shipping passes through this area is believed gas and oil deposits lie beneath the surface.
And now that China has effectively militarized these islands what could happen next? Now I post that question earlier to security expert, Ashley Townshend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEY TOWNSHEND, RESEARCH FELLOW, ALLIANCE 21 PROGRAM: They've waged that the most effective way for them to enhance this strategic footprint in the South China Sea is to not create a provocation, not create a military incident.
So, while they've been behaving much more cautiously on the operational ground bringing down those risks of collisions or close encounters that we used to talk about, they've been busying themselves building and militarizing the South China Sea islands. In the long run this is a much smarter play by Beijing and it actually
makes it much harder for the region to respond because it isn't true to say that the risk of a miscalculation is raising or the risk of a military encounter is rising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: So, very compelling analysis there, actually Townshend believing that China will try to continue to exercise the restraints in the area. It must be said China isn't the only one building at the South China Sea. You also have Vietnam and Taiwan building a potential military installations in these region.
Back to you, Max.
FOSTER: Obviously the big resources are on China side. Donald Trump expressing some concern about that buildup in the military presence there, so that's going to be a big issue for them to discuss next year.
LU STOUT: Yes, absolutely. In fact, it was earlier this month when Donald Trump went to Twitter to call up China, yet again, saying that, you know, "China, did China ask for the U.S.'s approval to devalue its currency or to build up its military complex in the South China Sea, I don't think so," unquote.
You know, and he's also been building the strategic alliances which China's neighbors who have been contesting China's claims at sea. For example, Rodrigo Duterte, the President of Philippines, and Tsai Ing- wen of Taiwan.
Up to now the United States have carried out this freedom of navigation operations in the area but that has failed to deter China and its continued buildup in the South China Sea. But now we have an incoming U.S. president who is willing to confront China, so we'll see how that plays out.
Back to you.
FOSTER: OK. Kristie, I know you'll be following it. Thank you very much indeed.
Now the price of your iPhone could be going up as Donald Trump has his way. We'll explain later this hour.
Plus, very emotional testimony in the charge of the man accused of murdering nine worshippers in the race's rampage. Next, you'll hear new audio from a 911 call -- 911 call from inside the church.
[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Updating our breaking news, evacuations are now underway in eastern Aleppo. The people being evacuated are in need of medical treatment. The doctor involved says these evacuations are continuing despite the convoy being fired upon. At least four people wounded and one dead. The doctor could not say
whether it was Syrian security forces or pro-regime militias who initiated the live fire. We've not been able to contact the Syrian government forces or Russian officials to confirm the shootings.
An emotional day in the trial of accused Charleston killer, Dylann Roof. The prosecution and the defense both rested their cases. Prosecutors say he has confessed to opening fire inside the church in South Carolina a year ago -- a year and a half ago, rather, in a rampage of racism.
The final witness against Roof offered some of the most moving and powerful testimony of the whole trial. Polly Sheppard only survived because she says Roof wanted her to tell her story -- tell her -- tell his story, rather.
And now the audio recording of a 911 call from inside the church has been released. We have to warn you you'll find it disturbing.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
POLLY SHEPPARD, SURVIVOR: He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Ma'am, are you able to -- if he's coming, I need you to be as quite as possible. Is there something that you can hide under?
SHEPPARD: I'm under the table.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see him at all?
SHEPPARD: Yes. He's a young 21-year-old white dude.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
SHEPPARD: Please, we've got some people very hurt. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma'am. And you said that, were you able to see the gun? Do you know what kind of gun it was?
SHEPPARD: No, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know anything about guns.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. That's OK, and where are the weapons now?
SHEPPARD: He's got it in his hand. He's reloading.
(END VOICE CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, these are Dylann Roof's victims. Nine worshippers shot and killed after he was welcomed to pray with them.
CNN's Nick Valencia has more.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP) [03:45:01] DYLANN ROOF, KILLER: Well, I had to do it because somebody had to do something. Because black people are killing white people every day.
(END VOICE CLIP)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over a year since his confession, Dylann Roof is standing trial. But if Roof had his way there would be no trial at all. Before the case began Roof said he was willing to plead guilty to the charges on the condition that prosecutors remove the death penalty. They refused.
Over the past week in federal court, prosecutors have punctuated their case by painting Roof as a cold blooded calculated killer obsessed with white supremacy and hateful of blacks. They say Roof hope to start a race war when he walked into the historical black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 27th, 2015.
He prayed with the bible study group for nearly an hour before removing a 45-caliber Glock handgun and shooting nine people, some of them multiple times even after they were already dead. Evidence presented by prosecutors at the trial included video showing Roof shooting target practice, parts of a more than 2,000 words manifesto.
And there's also this white sheet found in his room cut into a triangle. Investigators believed it was Roof's attempt to fashion it into a KKK hood. The last week of the trial has been no doubt emotional. The first witness brought to the stand was Felecia Sanders, a shooting survivor, force to take a break from recounting her gut- wrenching testimony of what she saw that day in Charleston.
On the first day of court Roof's own mother suffered a heart attack at the beginning of lunch recess. There was also drama behind the scenes as well with Roof's defense. Up until two weeks ago, the 22-year-old said he wanted to represent himself. Now he's changed his mind, but only for the guilt phase of the trial during the penalty phase he's expected to be his own defense.
It's a surprise, considering his current attorney, David Brock is an acclaimed death penalty lawyer who may not be able to use his skills if Roof keeps his current plans.
For those washing the case the horrors of what happened last July lie in the facts Roof has sat and listened. The whole time, expressionless, emotionless, showing no remorse for the massacre he's accused of.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
FOSTER: Well, in the northern United States an Arctic air makes itself at home it seems.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us from the International Weather Center. Good morning. Hi, Pedram.
JAVAHERI: Hi, Max. Great seeing you. It's a pretty incredible pattern setting up here across the northern tier of the United States. In fact, one of the best ways to show it to you is to draw the Arctic Circle across this region. Look at temperatures north of the Arctic Circle, that's the town of Barrow, Alaska, it's the northernmost city in the United States and one of the northernmost populated region on our planet current temperature is 17 below zero.
Work your way towards portion of the Midwestern United States across the northern tier temps sitting at minus 21 degrees at this hour. And again, the source region for all of this is coming in right there out of areas of the Arctic directly south and locking itself and ultimately bottling up around the northern tier of the United States.
So, that is the pattern we're going to see over an extended period across this region and with such temperatures of 20 to 25 below zero, of course we're talking about very dangerous situation where a lot of schools across these regions have now actually halted classes just because of the dangers of being exposed outside for children waiting for the school buses to come in the morning.
But notice wind chill values to get down to minus 40 degrees for an area that stretches almost 2,000 kilometers across the northern portion of the United States.
So, how about this, the wind chills even at this hour, 25 to 20 below zero. When you factor in what's going on across portions of Chicago on to Indianapolis the cold air mass will want farther to the east. And then New York City and Boston could have wind chills down at 15 to 20 below zero.
And unfortunately, this is not just a one day event as the perspective lines up here with these sorts of wind chills again 35 below zero. Exposure times about 10 minutes is all you need for permanent damage to be done to your skin as frost bite can set in. And any time the wind gust even stronger within just five minutes exposure you can have damages to your skin.
And quickly here, Max, I want to show you something because when it comes to the incredible nature of this Arctic air mass it's one shot of it coming in, a second one is slated to come in potentially even colder, that would be sometime into early next week.
So again, this could be prolonged events. It could be very dangerous for a lot of people and it's currently taking place there across the United States, max.
FOSTER: OK. Pedram. Thank you very much indeed for bringing us that. Now the most favorite company in the world is getting ready o deal with the man who is about to be the most powerful on the whole planet actually. What is the president-elect is asking Apple to do and how it could impact the price of your iPhone as well.
[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Well, it seems that Donald Trump is mending fences with Apple. He is encouraging the tech giant to start making more of its products in the United States. But that make consumers a little unhappy it seems.
CNN's Dan Simon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Apple, Apple, boycott Apple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was one of the candidate Trump's main targets on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Boycott Apple until they do it. Boycott them. Who cares?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: First blasting the company for refusing to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Give me a break. Why would I want to do it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Trump then turn his sides to Apple's overseas manufacturing saying this at nearly every campaign rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are going to have Apple building their product in the United States not in China, Vietnam, and all over. And believe me, if I'm president that's not going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: But analyst calls that highly unlikely where starters consumers will probably have to pay a lot more for their next iPhone. Estimates vary, but perhaps double the amount. An iPhone 7 starting at $650 could go for $1300 or more.
Apple's top manufacturer is the Taiwanese firm Foxconn with factories all over China. Workers get paid roughly $400 a month to assemble iPhones.
[03:55:00] But in the U.S. workers would make a minimum of nearly $1000 a month at least double the wages of a Chinese laborer, cost that would be absorbed by consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM BAJARIN, ANALYST: That price of an iPhone or whatever it is would go up exponentially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: And technology analyst Tim Bajarin says any job gains would be eroded over time with robots not people building the phones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAJARIN: I would argue that any job that has a lot of repetitive tasks is going to move the robotics over the next 10 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Apple designs its products in the U.S. but Bajarin says at least 80 percent of its raw supplies also come from overseas, which makes building an iPhone in America seem even more impractical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, they say Apple is that wonderful but they make everything outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: While Trump recently told Time magazine that he challenged Apple to build its biggest plant, yet in the U.S. instead of China. The company points out its technology is directly responsible for widespread job creation in the U.S. from its engineers and retail employees to app developers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: We've created 1.9 million jobs down the United States and we had tens of millions of customers who use our products. We work for them and we love deeply our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: But Trump's criticism maybe having an impact. Foxconn says it's now in talks to expand its presence in the U.S.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
FOSTER: Well, thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Max Foster in London. I'll be back with another edition of CNN NEWSROOM after this short break. Do stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
