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Turkey Launches Military Offensive In Northern Syria; Biden: Trump Must Go To Preserve Our Constitution; White House Refuses To Cooperate With Probe; Fox News Poll: 51 Percent Favor Impeachment & Removal; Shooting Near German Synagogue On Yom Kippur; Typhoon Hagibis Impacts Rugby World Cup. Lithium Ion Battery Developers Win Nobel Prize. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 10, 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm John Vause with CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio Seven at CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Abandoned on the battlefield in Syria and disavowed by the U.S. President. Syrian Kurds are in the firing line of Turkey's military as Donald Trump now dismisses that work as a U.S. ally.

It's just not fair. The U.S. President questions the legitimacy of Congress' impeachment inquiry, in what is increasingly a battle between Trump and the U.S. Constitution.

And the most powerful storm of the heading for Japan, leading to an unprecedented cancellation of matches at the Rugby World Cup.

It is 8:00 a.m. in northern Syria, where a Turkish military operation continues at this hour, the stated goal to clear the border region of terrorists. But what Turkey calls terrorists have been America's allies namely the Syrian Kurds who helped in the fight against ISIS which is an understatement. They lost 11,000 fighters and did all the heavy lifting.

Turkey has said -- it has said it has 181 targets on the very first day of the offensive, at least eight people have been killed. And Kurdish forces say a prison holding ISIS detainees has been hit. Terrified civilians are now fleeing the region in their thousands. Turkey hopes to clear the way for millions of Syrian refugees to return to their home country.

CNN's coverage begins with Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward reporting in from northern Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're here on the road out of the town of Ras al-Ayn. And as you can see, it is a chaotic situation. The streets, roads, just choked full of cars filled with families desperate to get out of here. None of them understanding exactly what is going on, what has happened, what the intention of this Turkish military strikes are.

We saw at least six big plumes of black smoke with our own eyes, at least one building that appear to be on fire. And these people are now fleeing to try to get to safety, but they don't know exactly where safety might be.

And let's just take a talk and chat to these people real quick. Are you afraid?

They're saying that they're frightened for the children. And you can imagine why. Look at the sky. It's thick with black smoke. There have been strikes for the last couple of hours.

So they're saying there were many different explosions.

She's saying there were many explosions. It was coming from shelling artillery. They're now trying to get out.

And they don't know where they're going or where they might be able to sleep tonight. Clarissa Ward, CNN outside Ras al-Ayn, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: To Washington now and CNN Military Analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good to see you.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you too, John.

VAUSE: OK. Turkey has only just started this military offensive. There's already been widespread air strikes, heavy artillery fire, civilians are already among the dead. We sort of have a glimpse now of how the Turkish military plans on carrying out what this 20-mile deep safe zone that they've tried to build along a 500-mile long border. It's 10,000 square miles. From what we're seeing, how long do you think this will take? Very broadly, what sort of deaths toll are you expecting in terms of civilian deaths? And once it's sort of completed, once it's dugout, how will they hold the surgery?

LEIGHTON: Those are all good questions, John. The basic idea is that it will take them probably, you know, initially somewhere between four to six weeks to really mop everything up. But they may be able to do it quicker on the surface, but there will be resistance in the background there.

And as far as civilian deaths are concerned, you know, it could be anywhere from you know, several hundred if the Turks are a bit more careful than they usually are. But more likely, we will see several thousand. And that's going to be a significant issue I think from a humanitarian standpoint. Plus, you're going to increase the flow of refugees, like you've never seen before.

As far as them being able to hold this, that's a really good question. I think what will happen is here is that the Kurds are going to -- after initial force on forced type situations, they are going to melt away into the countryside and harass the Turkish forces in a classic guerrilla campaign. And that's probably what we're going to be seeing here in, you know, the next month or so.

[01:05:19]

VAUSE: Well, initially, the Kurds say redeployed their forces, the indications are that you know, they're not looking to cut and run because they really don't have anywhere to run to. We have one Kurdish military commander who has been appealing for international help. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED MOUSSA, COMMANDER, KURDISH MILITARY (through translator): We say that our people that made so many sacrifices in the past, today will also be ready to sacrifice themselves in order to block attacks by Turkey. We appeal to all the countries and states and people of all orientations to stand together in the face of Turkey, and to raise their voice highly against Turkey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: As you say, this doesn't seem to find that the Syrian Kurdish forces could actually win. And their beltway is conduct this sort of guerrilla campaign. If they're not going to be a U.S. ally, if they can't count on the U.S., where do they go? Who do they try and partner with after this?

LEIGHTON: Well, one of the possibility, oddly enough, is going to be the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. That is going to be problematic for us but it plays into the hands of the Russians who were, of course, Assad's main ally, and the Iranians, another one of his main allies.

So what you'll see here is a realignment of forces away from the United States toward the Assad regime, probably, and the Russians, and the Iranians. And that is going to be extremely detrimental to U.S. interests in the northern Middle East and really throughout the entire region.

VAUSE: You know, on Wednesday, the U.S. President seemed almost dismissive of the role the Kurdish military in Syria had played in defeating the ISIS caliphate. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, the Kurds are fighting for their land, just so you understand. They're fighting for their land. And as somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with -- Normandy is an example. They mentioned names of different battles. They were there -- but they're there to help us with their land and that's a different thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, the article the president is referring to was written by Conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter. He's retired trial lawyer, an army colonel. And this is the paragraph Trump was kind of quoting. Here it is.

"Let's be honest, the Kurds didn't show up for us at Normandy, or Inchon, or Khe Sanh, or Kandahar. The Syrian Kurds allied with us in their homeland because we share the common interest in wiping out the head loving freak show that was ISIS."

This seems like a fairly cynical take on who is considered a friend and ally, and who is deserving of loyalty and who is not?

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. Well, you know, of course, the Kurds didn't show up in Normandy. They didn't have a state. And the Turks who were controlling most of the Kurdish territory at that time still do. They were neutral in World War Two. So of course, they're not going to be at Normandy or any of these other places.

You know, if Kurdistan were a state, then perhaps you would see them take part in the U.N. missions. But this very cynical, as you pointed out, way of dealing with these allies is really reprehensible.

What we really -- what they really need to focus on here is the idea that the Kurds sacrificed so extensively for the U.S. They did our dirty work for us in northern Syria, in Iraq, and in other parts of the Middle East, because they were the one force that was willing to fight and die, when even the United States was reluctant to do the dying, at least. And that's -- and that's a very critical element here that should never be forgotten by anybody.

VAUSE: I just want to wrap this up with the role that the Trump administration has played in all of this, in you know, in sort of triggering this military operation by Turkey. Here's the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There U.S. responsibility for whatever the outcome is, because the U.S. has given Turkey a green light.

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE, UNITED STATES: Yes, well, that's just false. The United States didn't give Turkey a green light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, we don't know what the U.S. President said precisely to Erdogan on that phone call on Sunday, but surely, you know, the troop pull-back from the area of the Turkish military operation, if that's not a green light, what is?

LEIGHTON: You know, it says green -- a green light is you'd find it any traffic stop, John. And this is one of those cases where it's very clear that even the cynical mission becomes really important when you're a world leader and you're talking to the counterpart like Erdogan on the phone. I have to be very clear what you want and you also have to understand what they're talking about.

President Trump didn't understand the history of the region and he got us into a situation where he was looking at a very narrow campaign promise, and it's going to be a campaign promise that he says he's fulfilled by taking -- bringing our troops home, supposedly. But that's going to also go against other campaign promises to keep us safe from terrorists. And that's the big one that we really need to be worrying about here.

[01:10:07]

VAUSE: Yes, the duty to protect the homeland is, you know, the number one for any U.S. president. And we'll see how this works out. Colonel, thank you for your time.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, John, anytime.

VAUSE: Well, there has been bipartisan criticism verging on outrage in Congress over Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria effectively green-lighting Turkey's military incursion.

Democrats and Republicans remain deeply divided over the impeachment inquiry and it seems President Trump is working hard to keep it that way. A source tells CNN Trump has been calling Republican lawmakers especially senators to demand their loyalty. He's also been trying to justify why his administration is stonewalling the Democrat lead impeachment investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, we would if they give us our rights. It depends. If they vote and say you can't have lawyers, you can't ask questions, you can't have anybody present, all of these crazy things. And even some of the reporters said to me, it really is an unfair situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Meantime, the man who the President asked Ukraine's leader to investigate is now saying for the first time that Donald Trump must be impeached. Here's Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To preserve our Constitution, our democracy, our basic integrity, he should be impeached. We have to remember that impeachment isn't only -- isn't only about what the President has done. It's about the threat the President poses to the nation if allowed to remain in office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining me now Political Analyst Michael Genovese and David Katz, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles. OK, so that eight-page letter from the White House counsel on Tuesday to Speaker Pelosi, you know, which outline his strategy of total non-cooperation, period, no help whatsoever, now comes with an addendum courtesy of Donald Trump. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Pelosi holds a vote on the floor on impeachment and commits to the rules of previous impeachment proceedings, you'll participate in that investigation?

TRUMP: Yes, if the rules are fair. Because I don't know how -- I don't know exactly your definition. If Republicans get a fair shake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So David, we'll start with your legal opinion. During both the Nixon and Clinton impeachments, the House did allow the President's attorneys to attend all the impeachment related sessions, review evidence, question witnesses. So far, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has not allowed that to happen. She's breaking tradition. Is she breaking the law?

DAVID KATZ, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES: Well, she's not breaking the law at all. The law is that the House can set the rules for an impeachment proceeding. And if there are different rules right after the Civil War, or back during Watergate, or during Clinton, that was because that's what the House wanted to do.

The House was, of course, Republican when it voted to impeach that is to charge Clinton. So what's ironic, too, is that many of the people who are screaming the loudest about how unfair the procedures are in the House were actually House managers of the Clinton impeachment who are now in the Senate, or who are the vice president like Pence, and who are urging the removal of Clinton for private sexual conduct.

So there's nothing unfair about the rules. First of all, the trial will be in the Senate. But even regarding the charges, the President has a lot of rights, even in the House and his rights are being preserved.

Remember, there's about 45 percent Republicans in the House. They're allowed to ask questions. They're allowed access to the witnesses. If they want to call witnesses, there's no reason why some of those witnesses couldn't be called.

But let's keep our eye on the ball, John, of what's really going on. What's really going on is that President Trump is stonewalling, not allowing anyone to be called. He hasn't allowed Sondland who flew all the way over from Brussels and who is his ambassador, and who was supposedly willing to testify, and supposedly was going to offer favorable a testimony, although you wonder if that really would have been what happened, and he wasn't allowed to testify by the administration. Before that, McGahn the former chief of staff wasn't allowed to testify.

So the stonewalling the lack of what you would consider due or fair process has been all on Trump's side, not on Pelosi's, and not on Adam Schiff's part. VAUSE: David, you make some very good points there. But I want to go to Michael, because you know, this is a president who is incredibly skilled at playing up being the victim. So given that, is the politic here for Democrats take that opportunity away from the President, adopt the same type of procedures as past impeachment. What would be the downside of that?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think eventually, that's what's going to happen. But the President is arguing, I think a little bit backwards. You know, in point of fact, if you look back at Watergate, they had a thorough investigation before they bought impeachment charges. And so that was the urban committee where you had great television drama where everyday people were glued to the television set watching the testimony of John Dean, Butterfield, and of all -- of all the Watergate characters.

[01:15:08]

You did the investigation first, and then you decided about impeachment. The President is arguing that, no, you first have to decide on impeachment then you do the investigation. Well, you don't do that in criminal cases. Why do it here? And so, the President's basic position is, look, those guys shouldn't impeach me because they're not going to be fair, because they don't like me. Well, that's not the case.

Certainly, the Democrats do not support the President, they will eventually impeach him. But the process has to go on. The president can't control this process. If you look at that letter that was submitted by the President's Council, it's kind of the Swiss cheese letter because it's full of holes. The court cases they even refer to support Congress investigating and issuing subpoenas. So, they do say there are some limits to that, but in essence, even the court cases that are sided don't support what the President believes.

VAUSE: Well, the President also has another skill, and that's taking a grain of truth, twisting and blowing it up out of all context. Here is doing just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They heard a whistleblower who came out with a false story. You know, people say, Oh, it's fairly close. It wasn't close at all. What the whistleblower said board no relationship to what the call was. We have a transcribed call done by professionals. And the call was a perfect call.

Then it turns out that the whistleblower is a Democrat, strong Democrat, and is working with one of my opponents as a Democrat that I might end up running against.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: David, that was the President playing the ultimate victim here. The problem is, what he says is simply taken out of context. It's simply not true, or it's an outright lie. KATZ: Well, that's one of the problems right here is that he wants to play the victim. But the reality is that the transcribed call is what hurts him. It's not what the whistleblower had to say about it. It's what is corroborated. The whistleblower was corroborated by the released transcript of the call. The call itself is what the strong evidence is, it shows a quid pro quo by the President, it shows that he wanted a favor for himself, politically and personally, in exchange for releasing $400 million of military aid that Ukraine desperately needed to fend off Russian aggression.

And the money was never released until it was known in September that there was a whistleblower out there. And the transcript was never released until it was known that there was going to be a transcription -- actually that there was going to be a whistleblower complaint about it. Now, we have yet a second whistleblower. Remember the last week, defense was that it was hearsay? Well, we don't need the hearsay because we have the transcript. But now there's actually a second whistleblower who heard the actual call.

On top of that, 10 other people heard it. It was put on a super secret server where it didn't belong, which was for covert operations. Why was it hidden? If it wasn't embarrassing to the President, why was it hidden? And it's also come out from the whistleblower that other things were hidden on there. Was there a call with Turkey on there, trading a Trump Tower Istanbul for withdrawing the support now that's just happened? Was there a quid pro quo with Putin and the Russians? Well, that's also on the super server.

So, that's why it does make sense for Congress to go down this road and to try to get those documents, not just impeach now, but to actually try at least for a few weeks, maybe for a couple of months, to really press the investigations, to really get what they have, to ask for expedited review by the courts if that's what needed. Not get into a Mueller situation, John, where they just let the thing gets so old and stale in people's minds, but move with dispatch, move with alacrity. But find out the many more things they can find out. Get this ambassador who was trashed and brought home from Ukraine because she wouldn't play ball with Giuliani. Get was a long-time advisor to Trump. Get her before the Congress. Keep the momentum going. There is some more evidence that should be plumbed.

VAUSE: It does seem that that's the strategy the Democrats are using, but you know, in Trumpian world, the bizarre world of Donald Trump, this strategy of stonewalling and, you know, essentially taking things out of context is working. Here's one of his latest tweets, "Only 25 percent want the President impeached, which is pretty low considering the volume of fake news coverage, but pretty high considering the fact that I did nothing wrong." It's all just a continuation witch hunt, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But in the real world, opinion polls are showing support for impeachment. It's going in one direction, and that's up. Even opinion polls over at Fox News. Here's the question they asked, Do you think President Trump should be impeached and removed from office? 51 percent said yes. And this is Fox News. So, Michael, even though that 25 percent number that the President is quoting is not correct, it's not a good sign when you're boasting that only a quarter of the country wants you to stand trial for high crimes and misdemeanors and be removed from office.

[01:20:06]

GENOVESE: Yes, but Donald Trump controls number one, the bully pulpit. Number two, the bully Twitter account. And he has an ability, a masterful ability to control events, to control discussion, and to control circumstances surrounding discussion. And so, while his comment about 25 percent is absurd, people are talking about it, we're talking about it. The President sets the agenda and he sets the confines of our discussion.

And the fact that what he says is often not true, or made up or something that's made to puff himself up. That's what we talk about, because that's what he delivers. The bully pulpit is an incredibly effective tool in the hands of someone who is as effective at communicating as Donald Trump. Give him credit. He's able to dominate the public space. And in spite of the fact that we call him out on these things, he gets the first word and he gets the last word.

VAUSE: OK, well, the last word for us, we go to Joe Biden, the former Vice President and Democratic candidate on why he believes this president should be impeached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: He believes he can and will get away with anything he does. We all laughed when he said he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and get away with it. It's no joke. He's shooting holes in the Constitution. And we cannot let him get away with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, very quickly to David, then I'll come back to Michael, but you know, David, first this impeachment inquiry, it seems more about Trump versus the Constitution, as opposed to Trump versus Democrats.

KATZ: Well, Trump is shooting holes in the Constitution. And I think it's clear now that whether it's sooner or a little bit later, the House will vote to impeach him, to charge him with many articles. And then, there'll be a trial in the Senate. And I think that will call into question what the Senate really sees itself as. Do they want to be laughed at? Do they want to be like legislature in a lot of the world where they have great power on paper, but they just kowtow to autocrats and don't inquire into what the government is doing?

Do they want to be that kind of Senate? And I think a combination of their own institutional pride, and also the fall in the polls, and a majority even on Fox polls, saying that they want the President removed, I think is going to move those senators. They're not going to give up their six-year terms, so they can go down with Trump. Why should they?

VAUSE: Yes. OK, very quickly, Michael, you know, when do you think that there will be any movement among Republican lawmakers because we are seeing movement among Republican voters?

GENOVESE: There already is a movement visible and it was on the story you lead with, Turkey invading forces in Syria, they're fighting the Kurds. So, you're seeing some holes being punched in Trump, holes that he invited. And so, some Republicans are getting pretty disgusted with him on national security grounds. Question is, will the voters push those Republicans in relative safer swing districts to go against the President? That doesn't seem likely right now, but this is a very movable public means, very movable on this. The more that's revealed, the further you go into the process, the more people start to listen, pay attention, and that's when the President is really in difficult times.

VAUSE: OK. So, Michael and David, thanks to you both, appreciate you being with us.

KATZ: Thank you. Great being here.

VAUSE: And coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Jews in Germany, targeted on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, a deadly shooting rampage streamed live on the internet.

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[01:24:58]

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with you for CNN "WEATHER WATCH". And an active pattern across the United States here, where we have a nor'easter in the works. We've got well above average temperatures across portions of the U.S. And then back toward the west, a fire threat and a significant snow event, a blizzard event taking place there across the Northern Rockies.

First, the nor'easter, parked just off the northeastern coast of the United States. Strong enough here to have impacts on the immediate coast but not large enough, really, to reach farther inland. So, we'll keep those winds potentially as high as 100 kilometers per hour on the immediate coast. In particular, Nantucket, around -- areas around Boston even. One of the threat zones for high surf, coastal flooding, beach erosion, and certainly some heavy rainfall, as well.

Back towards the west, it is cold enough to where everything that's falling out of the sky is coming down in the form of significant snow. We're talking about 60 plus centimeters of fresh snow in the forecast. Some areas potentially higher amounts. Certainly, the first blockbusters snow event of the season taking place across the northwestern United States. Look at Denver. After climbing up into the upper 20s across the region, dropping down to one below with snow showers in a 24-hour period. All of that cold air eventually ends up across the Midwestern United States. And that's where forecast looks like this is Chicago from 23 down to 10. And it looks like we may just settle there, across the region, with much colder air finally in the forecast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: A Jewish community in Germany has been left grieving after two

people were shot dead on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. A 27-year-old man is now in custody. Police say he tried to storm a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle. But when he could not enter the building, he shot and killed a woman outside then drove to a nearby shop, and there, he killed a man. Chancellor Angela Merkel attended a vigil at a synagogue in Berlin after the attack, and she says Germany must do more to protect the Jewish people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): Unfortunately, today on your holy day, we witnessed something horrible. Two people lost their lives. There was an attack on Jews and Jews in Germany. My goal and that of the politicians is to do everything possible to ensure that you can live in safety. And this day shows us that this is not enough, that we must do even more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The attack was live streamed via camera on the gunman's helmet. In the 35-minute video, he's heard claiming the Holocaust never happened, and the Jews are the cause of most of the world's problems.

(INAUDIBLE) the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson securing a Brexit deal during the upcoming E.U. summit are now looking pretty slim. The sticking point remains what it has always been, how to avoid a hard border between the E.U. member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland in a post-Brexit world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEL BARNIER, BREXIT NEGOTIATOR, EUROPEAN UNION (through translator): To put things simply and frankly with objectiveness, at the time I'm speaking, we are not in a position to be able to find an agreement with Britain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Boris Johnson will meet with his Irish counterpart on Thursday. Leo Varadkar says Northern Ireland leaving the E.U. Customs Union is creating some pretty big difficulties. And now, by law, Mr. Johnson must ask for an extension if he does not secure a deal by October 19th.

Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, with a super typhoon heading for Japan, some big matchups at the Rugby World Cup have been canceled. We'll be live in Tokyo in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:33:10]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

Hundreds of Syrian Kurds are fleeing towns near the border with Turkey after the airstrikes and artillery fire. Turkey claims it is a military offensive designed to clear the area of terrorists and create a safe zone for millions of refugees to returns. Critics though accuse the U.S. of abandoning its Kurdish allies.

President Donald Trump not backing down, now slamming the Democrats' impeachment inquiry as just really unfair. The President trying to rally support from Republicans on Capitol Hill, demanding their loyalty. And for the first time his main Democratic rival Joe Biden is saying Trump must be impeached.

Well, this has never happened before -- two big matches in the Rugby World Cup has been canceled due to potentially dangerous weather. Super typhoon Hagibis is approaching landfall in Japan, and as reported, two matches scheduled for Saturday have been canceled outright. England and France, also New Zealand and Italy.

Officials are hoping Sunday's play will go ahead as schedules. But they will reevaluate once the storm has passed.

"CNN WORLD SPORT" anchor Alex Thomas is following all of this. He joins us now live from Tokyo. Ok. There is four teams that are out of luck. They get what -- two points each. But, you know, that doesn't do you much good in certain circumstances. So how does this affect the groupings -- who is in, who's out, moving ahead, who is not?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Well John -- you've got quite mad when we did this in the last hour. So why on earth couldn't they just have moved it out of the path of the storm, hold it on another day. And to be fair I didn't know the answer to that.

So I've been reaching out to the tournament director and to World Rugby's communications guys that I know. And none of them have gotten back to me.

I think essentially because these games have such big infrastructure around them in terms of, it's not just getting two things together, fining a bit of ground and playing the game. It's not as simple as that.

[01:35:01]

THOMAS: But there is huge frustration, if you look at social media reaction that there's wasn't more flexibility at a stage of the year when we know typhoons hit this area of the world.

This is a particularly big typhoon though. Hagibis is gusting with winds up to 195 miles an hour. That's more than 300 kilometers per hour.

Transport is going to be shut down completely. They're trying to move teams and fans out of this area somewhere else. It's going to be problematic in itself. The only real problem is -- before I tell you about the real problem

involving Japan. Let's just hear from Alan Gilpin who is the Rugby World Cup Tournament director. I mean he did not want to make this decision it sounds like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN GILPIN, DIRECTOR, RUGBY WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT: As you can imagine the decision to cancel these matches has not been taken lightly. It has been made with the best interest of team, public tournament and volunteer safety as a priority. Based on the expert advice and the detailed information we have available.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS: So the two matches canceled were Saturday but if we look at Pool A, where the top two teams can qualify for the quarterfinals John -- Japan in first and Scotland in third -- are going to play each other in the last four games Sunday evening Yokohama which is only an hour south of Tokyo.

And Scottish rugby have already tweeted out saying they're ready to do anything it takes to play this game rather than have it canceled by both teams who get two points and Japan would go through.

VAUSE: Ok. Alex -- we appreciate the update and, of course, you know, this is not what people wanted but it's reality.

Let's go to Pedram Javaheri, our meteorologist.

Ok. It is a big storm. It's a bad storm. And it's a dangerous storm.

JAVAHERI: It is. That's why they don't want, you know, people out there on the roadways outside the stadium and of course, inside the venue. And we'll break down exactly what is in stores.

With -- many of these storms are coming -- when you look at the category five equivalent feature, we have 260 kilometer-per-hour winds. 315 -- that is the gust of the storm system. It is certainly one of the strongest we've had all season. And it's on approach towards areas of Japan.

Now it is going to weekend. The forecast model have suggested it a week in rather dramatically, much of the way strengthen in the past couple of days. We can rather quickly over the next 24 to 36 hours.

But again it is a very formidable storm approaching a very densely- populated region with a very popular event taking place this weekend. And you know, talk a look. It's been active across this region. Since July 5th -- July first we've had five tropical systems move within 50 nautical miles, the (INAUDIBLE) most recently which was about a month ago. That storm we had Hurricane Matthew in the United States a couple of years ago which had a little over $8 billion so.

Again -- when you have a storm of a similar magnitude approaching a very, very urbanized area, impacts could be significant. I mean when you take look, it will weaken. We think the $230 kilometers per hour by this time tomorrow, by Friday night to Saturday potentially around 190 or so kilometers per hour.

Landfall sometime Saturday afternoon to evening local time, about 150 or so kilometers per hour which should be a category 2 equivalent.

But look at the center of that track. Those right east of Tokyo potentially so that is exactly why they're taking this very seriously, putting even a weak storm within that close track of Tokyo itself.

Take a look -- John, the rarity of having storms of this magnitude approached Tokyo, only five times since the 1950s, so we have (INAUDIBLE) just a couple of weeks back and of course, now, Hagibis might be the same on this World Cup we can -- John.

VAUSE: We don't have any time but I would love to know where Hagibis came from? But maybe tomorrow.

JAVAHERI: I could find out, yes.

VAUSE: Thanks Pedram.

JAVAHERI: You bet.

VAUSE: Ok. We'll take a short break. When we come back, the (INAUDIBLE) a cellphone. The Lithium Ion Battery, powering the future.

And now the people who invented him to developers are being recognized with the ultimate price.

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VAUSE: Just think for a moment about the lithium battery, how it revolutionized our lives, helping us moved away from fossil fuels to renewables.

More than 30 years, later the three scientists who invented it have been honored with the Nobel Prize for chemistry.

Simon Cullen has this report.

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SIMON CULLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an invention that is powering the future -- everything from elective cars and consumer electronic to enabling large scale renewable energy plans to store electricity. Now, the transformative power of the lithium iron battery is being recognized with the ultimate price for its three developers.

For the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

CULLEN: John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino -- each from different countries, each building on the other's research.

Professor John Goodenough, who's now 97, the oldest Nobel laureate ever didn't travel to Stockholm, instead celebrating in London.

JOHN GOODENOUGH, NOBEL LAUREATE: How do I feel. I'm just saying as I that I was before.

CULLEN: In Tokyo, his fellow Nobel laureate was given a standing ovation.

Along with Stanley Whittingham, the trio helped create a rechargeable world.

GOODENOUGH: Climate change is coming, from the burning of fossil fuels of course, force, we also know that that is not a sustainable option.

M. STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, NOBEL LAUREATE: By using batteries to store energy from the sun and wind power, we can eliminate coal power plants.

CULLEN: Making the development of lithium ion technology an essential plank in cutting carbon emissions.

PETER BRUCE, PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: We are actually only starting to see the real impact of what he's done now in the area of climate change. I think will be very hard to decarbonize transport vehicles, passenger vehicles, without the let the Miami.

CULLEN: For John Goodenough, his work is not yet done. He still turns up for the LADD everyday, but hopeful of inspiring the next generation of scientists.

GOODENOUGH: I am still working every day.

CULLEN: Simon Cullen, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Congratulations to all three.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

"WORLD SPORT" is up after the break.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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