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Operation Yellowhammer: U.K. Government Release No-Deal Plan; Scottish Court: U.K. Parliament Suspension Unlawful; CNN Reporter Reflects On Storm That Devastated Bahamas; Trump Delays Increasing Tariffs On $250B Of Chinese Goods; Pompeo May Become National Security Adviser; Trump Discusses Taliban Meeting At 9/11 Commemoration; U.S. Plans To Ban Sale Of Flavored E-Cigarettes; Six Deaths In U.S. Linked To Vaping-Related Lung Illness; Ideology Resurges at Sprawling Syrian Tent Camp; Hong Kong Protesters Wear Masks, Fearful of Cameras; Uber's Legal Officer: Drivers are Properly Classified. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 12, 2019 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
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NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and thanks for joining us. I'm Nick Watt and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Ahead this hour, Britain's worst-case scenario, From higher prices to public disorder. New warnings about just how bad a No Deal Brexit could be.
Some call it ISIS Academy. We take you inside a sprawling camp largely ignored by the outside world that many fear is being used to train the next generation of Jihadis.
And the Trump administration moves to ban flavored e-cigarettes as concern grows about the dangers of vaping.
There could be more troubled times ahead if the U.K. crashes out of Europe without a deal at the end of October. This according to a document just published by the British government that details a series of worst-case scenarios. Downing Street was trying to keep the document secret but Parliament forced its release.
Operation Yellowhammer warns of shortages of fresh food, and medicine, child crossings disrupted for as long as three months, possible panic buying, price hikes, rise in public disorder, and community tensions, even clashes between British and foreign fishing boats.
And yet another setback for a beleaguered Boris Johnson. Scotland's highest civil court found his decision to suspend Parliament in the run-up to the Brexit deadline was illegal. The Prime Minister insisted his decision was nothing to do with Brexit, a routine recess to allow his government to work on its agenda. But those Scottish judges disagreed. And now it heads to the U.K. Supreme Court.
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COLIN SUTHERLAND, LORD PRESIDENT, COURT OF SESSION: Each opinion expresses the view that the advice given by the government to Her Majesty the Queen to borough parliament from 9th September to 14th October was unlawful and that therefore the propagation itself is unlawful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: And I want to turn now to our European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas who joins us from Los Angeles. Dominic, I've been reading this Operation Yellowhammer, some of the things that might happen were told, fresh food and medicine shortages, panic buying, food, fuel, and electricity price rises, a rise in public disorder, even clashes between British and foreign fishing boats, and it here's a quote, low-income groups will be disproportionately affected. You can see why Boris Johnson wanted to keep this a secret.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes, absolutely. And the more this kind of information is coming out, the more the general public gets to see that there's a disconnect between the public face of the Boris Johnson cabinet and administration in terms of the ways in which they've been speaking about their intentions of striking a deal of trying to improve on Theresa May's deal with the European Union.
But in fact, the reality is that that is not at all their objective, that the private goal of this cabinet that is surrounds Boris Johnson made up of these Brexiteers that have been such detractors in this process and throughout are in fact completely unprepared for even the consequences of no deal.
And one could even argue that they don't really care about those particular consequences because they're so hell-bent on simply delivering Brexit by October 31st. This crucial deadline they set themselves and which they hope to achieve in order to be electable.
So all of this information along with all the legal battles and ramifications I think are increasing the sort of the public's mistrust of this administration.
WATT: And Dominic, I want to move on to this ruling out of Scotland today. I mean, you know, Dominic Grieve who is a former Tory Minister is saying that if the U.K. Supreme Court upholds that ruling and rules that indeed Boris Johnson illegally suspended Parliament -- he, of course, claimed he was suspending it so that he and his party could work on their agenda -- everybody I think suspects it was because of Brexit.
I mean, listen, he lied to the entire British electorate during the referendum campaign. Now, people are saying because he lied to one old lady, the Queen, he might have to resign. Is it going to come to that? Is there a danger that Johnston is going to be turfed out?
THOMAS: Well, I think all of these are in the realm of possibility. And not only is the Scottish verdict so interesting, but they actually you know reverse their decision. And in so doing further underscored the fact that the deliberate aim of proroguing was to prevent parliament from debating these issues from trying to sort of maximize the opportunities of achieving a no-deal.
There's a discrepancy now between the earlier London ruling and they're going to defer to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. I think no matter what the outcome of that particular verdict is, and of course, there are all these legal ramifications for Boris Johnson himself, let alone and you see in that image there are really small sitting behind him is whether the Privy Council lied or misled the queen in terms of their intentions.
These are all serious. But in many ways the show has moved on, because the very question appropriation led the opposition to be increasingly mobilized and they were able, the reality is, to pass legislation to block a no-deal, while at the same time preventing a general election. And you could argue the consequence of all of this was to take control over Parliament.
And so this was a gross miscalculation by Boris Johnson, while at the same time highlighting the fact that he has been less than honest with the general public and with the monarch, let alone the MPs, with whom, in many ways his future lies in Parliament, who at any moment, could pass a vote of no confidence and essentially remove him.
WATT: I mean, Dominic, I hate to do this to you. But what's going to happen?
THOMAS: Well, I think that what's happening now, no matter what the legal outcome is, we've got these party conferences coming up over the next two weeks. And I think it's going to be absolutely crucial to see, on the one hand, what comes out of the Liberal Democrat and the Labour Party conferences and the extent to which they are able to explore some kind of alliance without which their electoral hopes are very limited.
While at the same time the Conservative Party that in some ways over the past two weeks or so has become completely fractured for all of these questions we've been talking about is the extent to which they are able to move towards the Brexit Party, which improves or enhances the electoral possibilities without alienating so many members of the Conservative Party that do not want to see the party go towards Nigel Farage.
So I think that these questions are very important. And the shadow over all of this, of course, is where there's some kind of agreement with the Lib Dems, the Labour Party, the whole opposition is to not favor a general election but in fact to push for some kind of referendum, either a complete overhaul of the Brexit argument or simply a referendum on a new deal, which will bring the British people back into the conversation. So I think that those are important ways and pass forward in this particular process.
WATT: I mean, the hideous irony here is that this referendum was held to try and remove the fissures within the Conservative Party and now the Conservative Party in the country are more divided than ever. Dominic Thomas, thanks a lot for joining us.
THOMAS: Thanks, Nick. WATT: 2,500 people are still registered is missing in the Bahamas. More than a week after Hurricane Dorian devastated the islands. Search and rescue crews aided by dogs now going through the rubble looking for people dead or alive. Officials cautioned that the number of missing might be misleading.
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CARL SMITH, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: This list has not yet been checked against government records of who is staying in shelters or who have been evacuated. The database's processing is underway. Some individuals who evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama have not yet registered with social services. We encourage them to do so at the Department of Rehabilitative and Welfare Services.
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WATT: CNN's Patrick Oppmann arrived in the Bahamas as the storm approached. Here are his reflections on the horror of what happened and what is still to come.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Dorian unleashing a category 5 fury on the Bahamas. Look at that. We knew what we're getting into when we got on the plane. It was category 5 hurricane. You take it very, very seriously. I knew that it was not going to be pleasant. I knew that it was going to be pretty rough and it was.
We are being lashed here in Freeport in the island of Grand Bahama by Dorian winds all night long. It sounds like a jet engine. Screaming winds, the pickup but never really go away.
Finally, we were able to get out and see other parts of the island that up until now have been inaccessible.
You can see there's still hurricane force winds and rain coming down on us. Look, there's a little -- a little baby here, a boy there they're covering up and protecting. Come through. Come through. Come through. Good job.
My cameraman Jose and I, we just saw this amazing scene of people are being pulled up jet skis and pull up boats that had been -- people that had been riding out the storm on the roofs. And we had to get in the water. It's the only way to get those shots.
To see a guy get on a jet ski with a life preserver that didn't fit him and go roaring out there in the middle of a hurricane to save people's lives, you know, it's one of the bravest things I've ever seen.
At a certain point, also the weather kicked up, we're leaving, we're really getting pelted and beat up. And Jose, our cameraman came to me and said we got to go back. There's this guy who came up to me and said his wife died.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my poor little wife got hypothermia and she was standing on top of the kitchen cabinets until they disintegrated. And then I kept with her and she just drowned on me.
OPPMANN: I'm so sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
OPMMANN: I know that interview touched so many people. It touched us. He literally had the clothes on his back. And I will respect and appreciate the fact that he wanted to share that with us because it really was one of the things that I think woke people up to what was going on here.
This is complete and utter devastation like I've never seen. Jose is going to point the camera over here. Look at this. That's a wheel. This is the underside of a plane. This is what's left of the wing. You think of the force required to throw a plane from the runway into a terminal.
I realized after a couple of days of saying this is the worst devastation that I've seen that every day I was going to see something worse. When you think of other people stayed behind, what must they have gone through?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and I think about it because I had a nephew and three of his kids die in storm. And my heart is broken. I said, I can imagine a terror that they will face.
OPPMANN: We went out to a place called McLean's Town and we got there before the government. They got decimated. Its damage, it looks like a tsunami went through their, 30-foot high storm surge.
When we were leaving, a boat came. It was people from this other island who also got destroyed and they were showing up with help. And I think that really defines who Bahamians are. People here will on their own, maybe with some help from outside, rebuild this country, maybe rebuild it differently. A lot of these towns will cease to exist, but people here have an incredible spirit.
And for the ones who survived, I think you can see the fire in their eyes and the fact that they're not going to let this stop them.
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WATT: That was CNN's Patrick Oppmann in the Bahamas. To learn how you can help those affected by Hurricane Dorian, please visit cnn.com/impact and you'll find several different ways to contribute.
Coming up, America taking action in the face of a vaping epidemic believed to have claimed the lives of sick and sickened more than 450.
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WATT: U.S. President Donald Trump is calling it a gesture of goodwill, announcing by tweet that he will delay increasing tariffs on $250 billion dollars' worth of Chinese goods. He says the increase from 25 percent to 30 percent will now happen in mid-October, two weeks later than first planned. The U.S. president adding he's doing this at the request of China's Vice Premier and because the People's Republic of China is celebrating its 70th anniversary on October 1st. CNN's David Culver is in Beijing and joins us now. David, is this a hopeful sign? Might those talks get back on track?
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, when we look to responses to this announcement to be a tweet from the president, let's look at the market. That's the first indicator here. And it seems at this hour, Asian markets responding positively, trading upwards right now, U.S. Futures doing the same. But let's look at this from the political stance here. And what does this suggest going forward with these trade talks? What seems to be, Nick, that they're deescalating even and kind of easing the tensions that have surrounded these talks for the past year or so.
And when we look at the next round of trade talks, the 13th round, that has been delayed, you've mentioned why it's going from October 1st to the 15th. And that's significant because here, National Day, it is a big deal. I can tell you walking around Beijing, they've got tightened security, they are doing run-throughs. So, to delay out of respect or so it seems, is well-received here.
It also is worth noting that this comes hours after on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance here in China decided to release a list of exemptions, 16 items in particular, that would be tariff exempt from the U.S. They range from everything, including cancer drugs to shrimp, to way that's for animal feed. And so, those exemptions, while 16 of them, really a small part of the 5,000 types of products that you have, signal that there was some desire for maybe diplomacy and dialogue, and that all, of course, surrounding these upcoming talks.
What is noticeably absent though, in those 16 items are the major items, especially for the U.S. Talking soybeans, pork, U.S. cars. That is because those are the most politically charged items one could argue, especially for President Trump ahead of 2020. That's things that hit farmers and manufacturers. And that is significant in his base. And so, the question will be going forward, is China going to ease some of the tariffs on those items, and that could be potentially something that would come down today. We're looking into that, in fact, we're going to be at the Ministry of Commerce, a briefing that will happen few hours from now. So, if that does come down, of course, that will be significant ahead of the next round of trade talks, Nick.
WATT: David Culver in Beijing, thanks very much for your time.
Meanwhile, the day after President Trump fired his National Security Adviser, sources say his loyal Secretary of State is being considered to also take on that advisors role. Mike Pompeo would be the second person in history to hold both jobs at the same time. Henry Kissinger was the first. Jim Acosta reports that John Bolton's firing was among a number of topics that came up at the Oval Office on Wednesday.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vowing to tackle the epidemic of teen vaping, President Trump announced his administration is finalizing a new policy to crack down on flavored e-cigarettes. Noting even the first lady is urging federal regulators to take action.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't allow people to get sick and we can't have our youth be so affected, and I'm hearing it, and that's how the first lady got involved.
ACOSTA: But the President had one other ban on his mind as in his decision to fire his National Security Advisor John Bolton.
TRUMP: John is known as a tough guy. He's so tough, he got us into a wreck. That's tough.
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump fired off the first rounds of what's shaping up to be a war of words with Bolton.
TRUMP: And I told him, John, if too many people, you're not getting along with people, I'm sure he'll, you know, do whatever we can do to, you know what, spit it his way.
ACOSTA: President defended his decision to give Bolton the boot and part over is handling of North Korea.
TRUMP: He made some very big mistakes when he talked about the Libyan model for Kim Jong-un.
ACOSTA: Insisting the now-former National Security Advisor was wrong to suggest that dictator Kim Jong-un could be handled in the same way as Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown after giving up his nuclear ambitions.
TRUMP: I don't blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that. And he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton.
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ACOSTA: But a source close to the White House said Bolton was leery of Mr. Trump's dealings with dictators, and is worried about what will happen if he sits down with Iran's leaders, saying, quote, "John doesn't really like the idea of a meeting because it's his view that Trump caves. He gives them way too much."
TRUMP: This could be one of the most unbelievable experiments ever, North Korea. And I also say the same with Iran, Iran can get back to business.
ACOSTA: The White House is still cleaning up after the President's mistaken claims that Hurricane Dorian posed a threat to Alabama. A White House official confirmed Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney spoke with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to have his department disavow a tweet from the Birmingham Office of the National Weather Service that contradicted the President. Mr. Trump told reporters he didn't instruct Mulvaney to do that.
TRUMP: No, I never did that. I never did that. That's a whole hoax by the fake news media.
ACOSTA: The acting head of NOAA which issued a statement backing away from that National Weather Service tweet reassured forecasters they're not under attack.
DR. NEIL JACOBS, ACTING ADMIN, NOAA: No one's jobs is under threat. Not mine, not yours. The Weather Service team has my full support and the support of the department.
ACOSTA: Earlier in the day, the president marked the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and discussed his recent decision to host the Taliban at Camp David, a summit he scrapped.
TRUMP: We had peace talks scheduled a few days ago. I called them off when I learned that they had killed a great American soldier from Puerto Rico and 11 other innocent people. They thought they would use this attack to show strength, but actually, what they showed is unrelenting weakness.
ACOSTA: While the president is taking action on e-cigarettes, it's not clear where things are headed on new gun safety laws. President spoke with both Democratic and Republican Senators about new gun control legislation earlier in the day, but Mr. Trump is still not committed to the idea of universal background checks, despite polls showing such a system is supported by nearly all Americans. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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WATT: Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will soon finalize the details of that ban on flavored e-cigarette products. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAM HERGENREDER, VAPING PATIENT: My lungs were that of a 70-year- olds.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Adam Hergenreder started vaping when he was 16. A year and a half later, he landed in the intensive care unit. His doctor said because of vaping.
A. HERGENREDER: I had the shivers and I couldn't control it. So, I would just randomly convulse and it was really scary. I knew it wasn't a stroke, but it felt like that because I couldn't control myself.
COHEN: Initially, Adam thought it was the stomach flu, but after days of nausea and vomiting, he ended up at Advocate Condell Medical Center Libertyville, Illinois.
POLLY HERGENREDER, ADAM'S MOTHER: To know that my son's lungs, 18 years old, healthy, an athlete, typical 18-year-old boy to be laying in a bed and not being able to breathe. And it's every parent's nightmare.
COHEN: Adam first started vaping nicotine, and then went on to marijuana.
A. HERGENREDER: So, I first started vaping just to fit in because everyone else was doing it.
COHEN: By the time he got to the hospital, he was severely ill.
DR. STEPHEN AMESBURY, ADVOCATE CONDELL MEDICAL CENTER: If his mom had not brought him to the hospital within the next two to three days, his breathing could have worsen to the point that he could have died if he didn't seek medical care.
COHEN: Adam is one of more than 450 possible cases of vaping-related illnesses around the country, according to the CDC, but Adam is also one of the lucky ones. There have been six deaths in California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas. And the biggest mystery, no one knows exactly what ingredients in e-cigarettes are causing the problems.
AMESBURY: And you can see the hazy white opacity throughout his lungs on both sides. So, although we don't know for sure the exact nature of what's causing the opacity, it's assumed that related to his vaping.
COHEN: Until they figure it out, public health officials say don't vape. In a statement, the American Medical Association saying they urge the public to avoid the use of e-cigarette products. And Adam will continue to speak out in hopes that others will learn from him.
A. HERGENREDER: If one person stops, hopefully everyone else stops.
COHEN: The White House says that they'll ban nearly all flavors of e- cigarettes. But there is an important note, after that ban is in effect, companies such as Juul can then apply to the FDA to market those exact same flavors again, anti-smoking advocate say they hope that the answer to those applications is no. Back to you.
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WATT: For more on this, I'm joined by Vin Gupta. He is a physician at the University of Washington and an expert on what is being cold now the vaping epidemic. He joins us from Seattle. Dr. Gupta, vaping has been around since, I believe, 2006. Has this always been a problem, or that we're just now paying attention to, or this spate of illness, this spate of death is this new?
DR. VIN GUPTA, PHYSICIAN, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: So, I think it's the latter. I -- this has always been a problem as public health docs, us in the lung community, lung health community, have been worried about this epidemic of usage of vaping products that's been progressively rising over the last 10 years. We've been worried about this for a long time. People are paying attention to it now because people are dying, very acutely from this illness. And we really don't know why. But this has been around for a long time, this is a huge problem. This is big tobacco mutating itself into a new threat. And so, I would say this is acute and chronic. And people are dying now and we need to figure out why.
WATT: And we don't know why they're dying. Do you have any idea how long it's going to take before we figure out why people are dying? And do you have any hunches as to what is causing this?
GUPTA: That's a great question. So, the leading thought, and so the CDC and other public health experts, especially in the states and municipalities that have been affected by the deaths, and by the severe lung illnesses. Seattle actually just had its first case of a severe lung illness from vaping. What we know is that the lung is demonstrating severe allergic response to whatever is being inhaled. And what we think is being inhaled is a mixture of THC, which is a cannabinoid, the active ingredient in marijuana with flavored e-liquid products. And that combination is toxic, is what we think.
And what we're seeing is that this illness is rapidly progressive. People inhale it, they start demonstrating symptoms pretty acutely, and then what we're seeing on CAT scans and other studies is, what's happening in the lungs is pretty quick. The lungs are basically filling up with fluid where they should otherwise be filled with air. This is happening on the order of a few days to a week. And so, we have the mechanism down well, what's actually causing it, is it the -- is it the mixture, is it the THC? That's a little bit -- that's a little less clear. And I think, just more pathologic examinations, more diving deep into the -- into these cases can be required before we can be sure.
WATT: But -- so, are we saying that it always involves a THC component in the vape. It's not just a nicotine and a flavor. THC is always a factor here?
GUPTA: That I can say with reasonable certainty that this epidemic of deaths and severe lung illness is a new phenomenon. And it seems to be correlated with THC intermixed illegally, this is a street type modification into the vaping liquid. Now vaping liquid in and of itself has not historically been associated with these types of severe lung illnesses. So, I think the correlation here is pretty dramatic. And we should confidently say that it's these alterations on the street with THC that is likely the cause of these severe allergic reactions in the lung. So, yes, I think that's reasonable to say.
WATT: OK. But -- OK, six deaths so far. And we're now talking about banning these flavored vape pens. You know, nearly a half a million people die in the U.S. every year from smoking cigarettes, but they're still legal.
GUPTA: It's quite the paradox. I think the problem here, and why we're so focused on it is, in addition to the headlines on the acute illnesses, on the deaths, which are worrisome and are tragic, what we also need to be concerned about is basically any vaping device is a gateway drug. And what we're noticing is that there are one in five high schoolers are now using these products. That's an astonishing rate, one in five, that's increased 80 percent since 2017.
And effectively, what we're worried about here as a public health community is you have 20 percent of all high schoolers utilizing vaping products. We know that if you vape at a young age are more likely to use tobacco cigarettes. We already know for the last 70 years, tobacco cigarettes is bad for you. So that's not good. And number two, one pod of a Juul product, of Juul vaping liquid has more nicotine in it than an entire pack of cigarettes. And we know without a shadow of a doubt that nicotine stymies (ph) brain development is bad for youths.
And so, this whole concern here, yes, there's acute concerns. But the chronic concern here is that big tobacco knows what it's doing. It's targeting these products, these flavor profiles towards our youth and youth are particularly vulnerable. And that's why this is a public health emergency.
WATT: And your advice, I assume, is just don't do it.
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GUPTA: Yes. Just don't do it.
WATT: Perfect. Dr. Gupta joining us from Seattle. Thanks very much for your time.
GUPTA: Thank you for having me.
WATT: Next -- misery in a refugee camp that is now home to thousands of families of ISIS fighters and there are fears that the camp is a ticking time bomb breeding future generations of ISIS militants. The details coming up.
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WATT: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Nick Watt with the headlines this hour.
U.K. lawmakers have forced the government to release the documents that lists wors--case scenarios if Great Britain leaves the E.U. without a deal. Operation: Yellow Hammer warned that civil disorder, delays in medical supplies, increases in food and petrol prices that will hit the poor.
U.S. President Donald Trump is delaying a planned 5 percent increase in tariffs of 250 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods, delaying until mid-October. He says it's a goodwill gesture done at the request of China's vice premier. He also praised Beijing's decision to waive its tariffs on some U.S. goods as the trade talks between both countries have stalled.
2,500 people are still registered as missing in the Bahamas more than a week after Hurricane Dorian. But officials note that figure may include the names of evacuees and those staying in shelters. The death toll remain at 50 but is expected to climb as recovery efforts continue.
It's been months since ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria, many of its fighters were killed or locked up. But there are fears that the terrorist group's ideology is alive and thriving in the sprawling Al Hol tent camp that's now home to thousands of wives of ISIS militants and their children.
CNN's Arwa Damon got a rare look inside the camp where those perceived as infidels face severe punishment, even death.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's called Al Hol, a camp that spawned from nowhere, now the size of a small town. The wind and sand mercilessly blows through the tents in the baking heat of the Syrian summer.
[01:35:04]
But it's the anger, the beating (ph) hostility that strikes you.
To step into this camp and to witness a strange mutation of the caliphate, kept alive by the widows and wives of ISIS.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are cells here. They are organized.
DAMON: A spirit of vengeance seep into the next generation. Hatred and enmity is magnified by the wretched conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think it's a camp. But it's a prison.
DAMON: It's a place in limbo like no other refugee camp on earth shunned by the international community. Kurdish forces say this place is a ticking time bomb, an ISIS academy where its brutal ideology is incubating. They don't have the resources to keep control.
Many of the women here don't know where their husbands and teenage sons are. They tell us quite openly, they're teaching their children to hate the infidels who imprisoned and killed their fathers and brothers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the prisoners aren't released, the hatred will grow. The biggest ISIS cell will be the women. If the men aren't released I will go crazy.
DAMON: The camp's population swelled while ISIS was making its last stand not far from Al Ho. Many of the new arrivals have direct ties to ISIS. They were organized and quickly established their version of the moral police. Terrorizing those who refuse to wear the full veil.
Beneath the black uniformity some women want nothing more than to leave. "I don't care if it's the Kurds or even the Americans who control my town," this woman pleads.
But there is no reintegration program. This is an open air prison.
What do you want.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to go home. I'm scared (INAUDIBLE). Should I be? I'm just asking. A lot of people -- that's why they're talking in our countries because they are scared to take us back.
DAMON: If they gave you an option let's say of creating another caliphate for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
DAMON: No. You're done?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of women, they think the same.
DAMON: But few countries are repatriating their nationals. The living conditions are horrendous. It's filthy. There's little access to medical care. Clean water is scarce. Food is rationed.
A telegram chat (ph) group has turned this place into a cause for ISIS, referring to it as the Al-Hol death camp alleging atrocities by the pig enemies of Islam.
There's a lot of propaganda here, a lot of promoting of the ISIS ideology. But then they're also using this platform to send messages.
It's where they posted this video, the ISIS flag being raised inside the cap. That happened here in the part of the camp for Syrians.
"It's a reaction to the psychological pressure on us", one woman says. "They should know that more can be done than the raising of a flag."
And more has been done. Foreign women here are no longer allowed to leave their annex and go to the market after two incidents when Kurdish guards were stabbed.
The more radicalized women threaten and terrorize those less devoted to ISIS. One woman says her tent was burned down. Another that she is so afraid of being stabbed she barely sleeps a night.
Outside the camp we get access to a prison, a surreal scene. Former ISIS fighters painting and crafting paper mache models.
This man says, ISIS held his family hostage to coerce him join. "ISIS gave me the bombs," he tells us and then showed me on WhatsApp hoe to plant that. He is serving 20 years, the maximum sentence.
In the crowded south, someone say they never supported ISIS.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My cousin turned us in. He said we were ISIS. But he is an ISIS spy.
DAMON: Others accept their fate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I raised my hand. I said I am ISIS. I'm not scared. I'm here. I will pay the price.
DAMON: The Kurds are doing their best to separate the true believers from the rest. In this rehabilitation center there are scores of teenage boys. This 15-year-old was an ISIS fighter. His first mission -- to plant explosives at a U.S. base.
He describes how they were given the bombs, weapons and suicide vests. "We covered everything with the women's black nikab (ph) he says. So the jets in the sky would not target us. The operation failed and he ended up in prison but even there ISIS rules he says."
[11:05:02] But at the rehab center, things are different. "I've left ISIS behind, he tells us. It was a mistake. I learned from it.
But the center barely reaches a fraction of the children indoctrinated. There just aren't enough resources.
MUSA'AB KHALAF, ADMINISTRATOR, AL-HOUN REHABILITATION CENTER: If the situation stays like this and nations don't help, ISIS will come back. Musa'ab Khalaf and his ministry leadership tells us, "We care about it, the sleeper cells. They take advantage of the children trying to recruit them.
And the children are so vulnerable. They know nothing but conflict destruction and grief. Some have no parents like this little boy.
He's just visiting his friends here and has gone to somewhere else. And he says that he's room was killed and his dad has been detained and came and his (INAUDIBLE) and his siblings -- the oldest of which was 16.
Children pay the price for the sins of their parents. But in turn are preyed upon. There's only so much Kurdish officials can do to contain the situation. And there is a shocking lack of international here -- the place is forgotten. The legacy of yesterday's war?
And that makes it uniquely dangerous. Because if allowed to fester, the sprawling camp contains the seeds of the next war and ISIS' Revenge Generation.
DAMON: Arwa Damon, CNN -- al Hol Camp.
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WATT: Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM -- California state senate just passed a bill that strikes at the core of Uber and Lyft business models. Going after the Gig Economy.
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WATT: An Australian couple currently detained in Iran have now been identified. Mark Firkin and Jolie King are bloggers who'd been documenting their travel adventures. They were arrested in the past few months according to Australia state broadcaster the ABC. A third Australian reportedly detained in Iran has not yet been publicly named. The arrest comes amid tensions between Iran and the U.S. and its
allies including Australia and the U.K.
For pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, masks have become part of their everyday attire. They hide their faces fearful of being spied on and rightfully so with smart cameras hidden in lampposts around the city.
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CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more on their battle against the government and technology.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The face of the protest is often faceless. These Hong Kong protesters come equipped with helmets, masks and goggles. It's for protection from police tear gas and pepper spray and to hide their identities.
CHARLES MOK, PRO DEMOCRACY LAWMAKER: Or there's this the concern that -- you know, you'll be recognized as a mule again. Consequences are --
STOUT: Protesters are concerned about being identified and prosecuted. Since the demonstrations kick off in June, over 1,300 people have been arrested.
Making it even against perceived government surveillance.
These hardline protesters of destroy some of the cities 50 newly installed smart Lamppost.
Hong Kong's Technology chief calls for vandalism a dark day for innovation.
MOK: We were driven with a misunderstanding that the lamppost will probably do some unwanted surveillance functions which is just absolutely not true.
STOUT: Did you not infringe upon any normal, personal privacy?
MOK: In fact every function on the threat, smart lamppost was done. Planned, designed in an open and transparent manner. We have fully complied with the privacy ordinance. But apparently that's not enough.
STOUT: The Hong Kong government says the smart lamppost outfitted with cameras and sensors are intended to track data like air quality in traffic flow.
It adds that the Post are not equipped with facial recognition software like in China and the data collected will not be sent to any third party. Raw data, the authorities say is instantly deleted. But critics are not convinced. MOK: When we don't have enough trust in the government, who can
guarantee and he would believe that the government isn't sharing those data with other law enforcement agencies. So even with China.
And the far western region of Singiang (ph), camera's are used to monitor the move of Uyghurs and other minorities.
There's also concern about China's upcoming social credit system which seeks to grade and label citizens based on their behavior.
China may operate under a legal system separate from Hong Kong. But protesters believe the smart lamppost represents the beginning of Hong Kong's own surveillance state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want to cover our faces. I think what we're seeking and what we're asking for is something very noble. But we're on the verge of becoming a police state that we might be persecuted for what we say.
STOUT: On the frontline to the protests, umbrellas are often used to block security cameras and provide cover for those vandalizing and screwing middle railings and building barricades.
Protesters have also covered security cameras and even use laser pointers to distract the police. In these times of deep suspicion of the government, it's hard to imagine the smooth role of any smart data collecting at work in this city.
MOK: If They don't put people first, if they put technology first I don't think it will ever be successful.
STOUT: The government plans to install 400 of the lampposts in four urban districts. Starting with the first 50 in this neighborhood -- the scene of a chaotic battle against the government and against technology.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN -- Hong Kong.
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WATT: California state senate is taking direct aim at controversial business practices in the so-called Gig economy where peoples' jobs like freelance gigs don't have the same permanence as regular jobs. Lawmakers passed a measure that would make it much harder for companies like Uber and Lyft to classify workers as independent contractors who don't have to be paid the minimum wage or receive benefits like health insurance, or overtime pay.
To talk about this is Margot Roosevelt. She's the California economy and labor reporter for "Los Angeles Times". Margot -- if this actually becomes a reality is the Lyft and Uber business model even sustainable?
MARGOT ROOSEVELT, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": If it were to become a reality there would be a big, big (INAUDIBLE) to Uber and Lyft and they would lose a lot of money. Of course, they're saying that it won't affect them at the moment. And they're ready to go to court so that they could make sure that it doesn't affect them.
And they're also ready to fund a big ballot initiative in California to create a carve-out for themselves.
WATT: Because I mean, Uber's chief legal officer I think said today we continue to believe that drivers are properly classified as independent.
[01:49:54]
So listen, even if this passes the California assembly, it's signed into law by Governor Newsome. This fight is not over.
ROOSEVELT: Correct. The fight is not over and it's just about to begin.
WATT: Uber claims that they're drivers, many of their drivers enjoy the flexibility and don't want to be considered employees. Do you think there's any truth to that?
ROOSEVELT: There are some drivers who believe that they could lose their flexibility if they are classified as employees and that Uber is scaring them with that argument but of course that is Uber's decision. You know, there are all kinds of industries where people are able to work certain shifts and not other shifts.
In other industries say the fast food, for instance, if you want to work at night at McDonalds, you can sign up for a night shift. And then if you want to work a day shift, the next day for Burger King you can do that.
It is really up to the company as to whether they deny workers flexibility once they are classified as employees.
WATT: Very selfishly as somebody who uses Uber. I mean could end up with riders just paying significantly higher fares?
ROOSEVELT: Riders might have to pay higher fares so that Uber driver's don't have to sleep in their cars and so they can buy enough food to get through the month.
WATT: Margot Roosevelt -- joining us from Los Angles. Thank you very much for your time.
ROOSEVELT: You welcome.
WATT: And when we come back, water has been found on a planet far, far away.
[01:51:45]
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WATT: For the first time, scientists say they found a relatively nearby planet with water and temperatures that could potentially support life as we know it. It's in the constellation Leo, a cosmological stone throw away, just 110 light years from earth.
Researchers using data from the Hubble space telescope say they detected water vapor in the planet's atmosphere. And it's warm enough for liquid water to flow there.
The so-called super earth is several times larger than our planet. And it orbits its red sun every 33 days.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Nick Watt. The news continues on CNN right after this.
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