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Catastrophic Fire Threat in Two States; Australia Bush Fires; Key Backer of Volunteer Rescue Group; Historian Accused of Killing, Dismembering Ex-Student. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio Seven at CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, Donald Trump is a master of the made for T.V. moment but maybe not this time. The U.S. Impeachment Inquiry will soon be live across America, bringing to life days and days of damning testimony.

Facing off after a day of rage and violence. Protest is in Hong Kong back on the streets, so to police. And for the first time ever, the fire threat level around the greatest Sydney area reaches catastrophic, as dozens of fires burn out of control across two Australian states.

The U.S. Impeachment Inquiry heading into what many believe could be a crucial phase with the televised public hearings said to begin on Wednesday. Bill Taylor, the top us diplomat in Ukraine will be the first to appear. His closed or testimony last month left many lawmakers stunned. He was especially concerned military he Ukraine was frozen for political reasons.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent is expected to describe his alarm over the President's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani's involvement in foreign policy. The ousted U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is expected to voice similar concerns. She will testify on Friday.

The new transcripts of closed-door testimony were released on Monday. Pentagon official Laura Cooper described the confusion and legal questions raised by the hold up of military aid. And Catherine Croft, a former deputy to the U.S. envoy to Ukraine said she was nervous about actually taking the job knowing the White House would change policy to suit domestic politics.

CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now from Los Angeles. Ron, good to see you for the start of the week.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi John.

VAUSE: Just for context here, Laura Cooper, she was the Pentagon official who was being deposed when Republican lawmakers invaded the secure room on the Capitol last month. They were demanding greater access to a process they already had access to.

What's interesting, her testimony spells out this decision to withhold military aid came from the very top of the administration. And there was concern at first if the President had the legal right to do so. And also, I guess, more importantly, it would make it harder for Ukraine to negotiate a peace deal with Moscow.

All of this important detail, but not exactly the blockbuster evidence, which it seems you know, Democrats now need to win over some Republicans.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I'm not sure there's any evidence that can win over some Republicans first. I mean, that may be an impossible bar to reach given the way politics has evolved. I mean, the cumulative body of testimony I think has far outpaced anything Democrats could have imagined that they would have received from officials within the Trump administration.

We were talking about everyone here, career diplomat or not, you know, has been all the key details have come from people who are part of the administration. And the picture they have painted is internally consistent and devastating.

The real question I think this week is going to raise is where are we in our politics and really in our relations to each other as a country because it is possible that starting with Bill Taylor who may be the most, you know, single most persuasive witness of all, that the evidence that is presented publicly this week is overwhelming to any kind of impartially minded listener and yet does very little to move public opinion given how dug in people are.

VAUSE: Let's start with the Republicans because over the weekend, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, he laid out some pretty tough new conditions for any impeachment hearing. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I consider any impeachment in the House that doesn't allow us to know who the whistleblower is to be invalid because without the whistleblower complaint, we won't be talking about any of this. And I also see the need for Hunter Biden to be called to adequately defend the President. And if you don't do those two things, it's a complete joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, an impeachment hearing shouldn't be thought of this in terms of a criminal trial, but you know, even so, that seems to be an extraordinary demand from Graham.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, I mean, the identity of the whistleblower, we've long past the point where that is relevant. I mean, the key -- virtually every key element, if not every key element of their original complaint has been validated by other testimony and evidence.

I mean, he's extraordinary, in fact, how much the testimony has aligned with the original allegations from the whistleblower. It's like saying someone who called in a bank -- you know, you can't -- you can't prosecute someone for a bank robbery unless you know the identity of the person who made the 911 call, you know, from viewing it. It's irrelevant to where we are now.

And of course with Hunter Biden, putting Hunter Biden on the stand is really an attempt just to kind of do domestically what the President was pressuring Ukraine to do internationally, which is kind of, you know, advanced his case against the Biden's.

Whatever Hunter Biden did or you know, however inappropriate it was Hunter Biden to be on the board of Burisma originally, it's not really relevant to whether the President was extorting a foreign government to do his political bidding at the cost of weakening their own security. And by -- you know, and because of that, by implication, our own national security -- and by the way, the Pentagon official who testified underscoring that what we were doing was weakening Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russia is the piece of this scandal that really we don't focus on enough.

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VAUSE: Right. You know, you talk about where we are as a country. Where is the United States right now? Well, you can always tell it -- tell that story with the reception that Trump's receive. Far-right activists actually booed Don Jr. when he was on a book tour. He was in UCLA over the weekend in California. These far-right activist believed that he's not conservative enough. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: The reason oftentimes it doesn't make sense to do the Q and A is not because we're not willing to talk about the questions because we do. No. It's because people hijack it with nonsense looking to go for some set -- sort of soundbite. You have people spreading nonsense, spreading hate to try to take over that room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Also - we also have the president who arrived to the sounds of boos and lock him up at an event on Monday in New York. You can just hear it here as the band starts up. Listen to this.

There's also -- but you know, you should know this raucous cheers over the weekend for Donald Trump in Alabama. This is the LSU football game. Take a listen.

You know, it tells the story really doesn't it of where this country is geographically with the president?

BROWNSTEIN: No, no, absolutely. Look, I mean, we are -- we have been divided before as a country. We were -- we were deeply divided in the 1960s. We were deeply divided the 1850s and the 1860s. What's different now is our social divisions, our cultural divisions now align almost completely with our partisan divisions. I like to say all the cherries on the slot machine lineup.

We have a Democratic Party that is strongest in Metro America, among younger voters, more diverse voters, more secular voters, more white- collar voters and the Republican Party that is the opposite of that on every front. It's a kind of a non-metro, older, blue-collar, Christian party. You know, the share of Republicans who are white Christians are the same as it was for the country 20 years ago, overall.

And so what Donald Trump has done is kind of lean into those divisions. The last three presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama may have failed to bridge those divisions, but all of them came into office promising to be a uniter, not a divider. Trump has leaned into them. He's essentially governed as a president of red America, against blue America.

And what that has done is create this incredible bond with a big portion of the Republican coalition, who says wherever else I think about Donald Trump, he has picked the lock, he figured out how to win the Electoral College, how to gain the executive branch power, and through that judicial nominations that can hold back all of the changes that I believe are threatening me and my vision of America.

And I think as I said, this week is going to be a big test because it sort of is the moment that you know, Trump talks about whether he could shoot someone in Fifth Avenue, and all of his supporters will stay with him. The evidence that -- of what he did that he in essence, he tried to extort Ukraine to interfere in the American election, both ends of that, you know, extraordinarily explosive, will that matter in any way to a meaningful portion of the Republican coalition and thus to Republican elected officials? I don't know.

I do think it will further harden the opposition he faces among voters who are skeptical of him, even if they are so satisfied with the economy. So even if he survives this ordeal, it makes this tightrope even narrower in 2020.

VAUSE: Ron, as always, good to have you with us. Thank you. Thanks, John. We have more now bought out on the breaking news out of the Middle East. The Israeli military has assassinated a senior leader of the militant group Islamic jihad. Baha Abu Al Ata was inside this building in Gaza. That's when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Israel blames him for some of the rocket fire coming from Gaza and says he was pulling immediate attacks on Israelis. Airing sirens have been heard across southern Israel as Gaza militants retaliate with rocket fire. CNN'S Oren Liebermann on the phone right now heading to the Israeli Gaza border.

So Orin, what is known about the circumstances surrounding this killing? Why now and were there any other casualties that we know of?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're still waiting for reports of other casualties in the strike, the targeted killing of Baha Abu Al Ata, one of the senior leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. That strike was carried out at this point, just over three hours ago.

Since then, there have been rockets fired from Gaza and powerful one's, not just one sitting the Gaza periphery, but rockets reaching all the way to Tel Aviv and in response to those rockets, in response to the tense situation and how quickly this can spiral, frankly, towards a war.

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Israel has shut down schools all around central and southern Israel. That gives you an idea of just how tense this is. Why now? Well, the Israeli military says Baha Abu Al Ata was one of the leaders or the leader responsible for the rocket fire, many of the rockets, the isolated rockets even that we've seen fired from Gaza into Israel over the course of the past several months. And they said he was planning on tearing out other attacks, other terror attacks in the immediate future.

The Israeli military says this had been planned and approved of the course of the past week and they were waiting for the right time to strike, and that as we see from Israel, from the IDF came early this morning. How does the situation develop from here, that is what we're very closely watching at this point.

Hamas, the more powerful group in Gaza that essentially runs the Gaza Strip (INAUDIBLE). The leader of the resistance Baha Abu Al Ata is promising a response. That response is what we're watching unfold now not only across Gaza but also across southern and central Israel. And that, of course, is what we'll be keeping an eye on, John.

VAUSE: So Oren, just in terms of capabilities. We know Hamas is a much stronger and more powerful you know, group in Gaza. Is it their rockets which are being fired which are reaching Tel Aviv and beyond or does Islamic Jihad has that capability?

LIEBERMANN: That's an excellent question. Who is firing the rockets now? Based on Hamas' response, it's very possible that they are firing the rockets but we haven't seen a direct claim of responsibility saying yes, these are our rockets.

Generally, in situations like this, the militant groups inside of Gaza and that includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others do operate with a level of orchestration. Hamas also teams in their statements feels an obligation to respond to what they did, Israel's aggression, and currently the killing of an Islamic Jihad leader.

As far as I know it and as far as I recall from the information of the Israeli military, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have rockets powerful enough to reach Tel Aviv. And in fact, we saw sometime earlier this year or late last year, a rocket fired from Islamic Jihad reach North of Tel Aviv. So they have the capabilities, they have the rocket numbers, how much of that do they use, of course, now the critical question. VAUSE: I guess also the response from Hamas, how involved are they in

this response, how much they back Islamic Jihad will then determine what the Israelis do to a large extent. So that is why it is important to know who's firing what. Oren, we'll let you go. And any updates on the way we'd appreciate it. Thank you. Oren Liebermann on the line there as he heads towards the Israeli-Gaza border.

The former Bolivian President Evo Morales is on his way to asylum in Mexico. He lead Bolivia for nearly 14 years but was forced to step down after weeks of protest over election fraud. His departure leaves the country in chaos on the current leader, vandalism on the streets. And as he left for Mexico, Morales tweeted that it hurts to leave the country for political reasons. And then he calls for calm to resolve any differences with dialogue.

Still to come, Hong Kong's leader is taking a hard line with protesters just a day after some of those violent clashes in the five- month-long demonstrations. Officials warning they're undermining their own push for democracy.

Also ahead, a prominent Russian historian accused of murdering his lover and former student. And the evidence against him is grim.

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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: 12 days into the month of November and February-like air taking over much of the eastern United States, massive area of high pressure are setting up in shop in the wake of a strong cold frontier. So we're getting a lot of that cold Canadian Air and the air mass, in particular, is Arctic in origin so we're getting a significant blast of colder air that will dive south across portions of the Eastern United States.

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So, the trend as such here, when it comes to some snow shower is certainly going to see some of this across the highest elevations of the Appalachian and work your way into the Ohio Valley and portions of New England. One shot of cold air exits and then a secondary one kind of more directed towards the northeast. It sets up shop towards, say, Saturday and Sunday. So, the trend for Chicago, a high of only seven below, and warms up to one below, and then finally, barely climbs above the freezing mark into the latter portion of the week. Minneapolis, no such luck, staying below freezing for much of the weekend. Notice, even places such as New York and Boston, holiday feel and holiday temperatures in place there.

But the good news, looked at the long range for you, and it looks like it'll want to warm up rather significantly once we do get to about seven days out. So, the trend is a warmer one least over the long- term. And in Denver, how about 16 degrees. Vancouver, we see around nine, a few showers slated for their forecasts, while across Kingston, around 31. Mexico City, 10 cooler, a comfortable 21 degree afternoon. You could see partly cloudy skies, though, across the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Welcome back. Protesters and riot police are facing off once

again in Hong Kong. But compared to the violence of 24 hours ago, right now, the streets appear to be relatively calm. Monday was notable for two incidents in particular, at almost point blank range, a police officer fired at a protester with a live round. And a man who confronted protesters was set on fire.

Hong Kong's China-backed chief executives spoke a few hours ago. Carrie Lam said selfish rioters were trying to paralyze the city by disrupting transportation. Monday, she said the violence has exceeded protesters' demands of democracy, calling them enemies of the people. To CNN's Paula Hancock live in Hong Kong once again at this hour. So, what do you know about the latest situation there? And we know there's a sit in, if you like, or a standoff where you are. There's also reports of teargas being fired at a university. There have been disruptions on the subway. Pretty tame stuff, but nonetheless, still disruptions there in Hong Kong.

PAULA HANCOCK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. I mean, at this point, we haven't seen much of the riot police. They seem to be keeping an arms rest when it comes to -- at arm's length when it comes to this particular protest. This is in the center of Hong Kong. It's in a busy shopping district. It was over the lunch hour, just before, so there were an awful lot of people out here, thousands I would have said, but it appears that many have gone back to work now. Although, when you look at some of those within the crowd, there are many who are here in their business suits. They popped out from work either to have a look and see what's going on or either to be part of this protest, as well.

So, what they're calling for at the moment is five demands, nothing less, which is what they have been demanding all along. They have built barricades at different areas around this particular crossroads. This is really a very busy area, usually. And you can see there's a number of buses that have just had to stop still in the street. People have just had to disembark if it was almost like a flash protest. It really materialized out of nothing. And this is what we often see in Hong Kong, the fact that there's an awful lot of communication online. And then, these protests just come and materialize out of nothing, and then they disappear out of nothing.

But of course, this one is is last thing a few hours. There is one new piece of information, John, I should mention. The man who was shot on Monday by the traffic policeman is in critical condition, we understand from the hospital, he has now been arrested by police. They say they've arrested him for being part of an unlawful assembly. And also, they believe that he was trying to take the gun from the traffic police officer who then shot him. John?

VAUSE: OK. It's a development there for that one protester. Paula, we appreciate you for the update. Thank you.

[01:20:02]

Staying with Hong Kong now, we want to go to Antony Dapiran, he's a lawyer and the author of "City of Protests: A Recent History of Dissent in Hong Kong." Antony, thanks for being with us. We heard from the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, she seemed to, I don't know, toned down her comments a few hours ago. The protesters and the writers were selfish. Compare that to what she actually said on Monday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARRIE LAM, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF HONG KONG (through translator): These rioters' acts have gone overboard with their demands. And these acts are the enemies of the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, you know, the acts of the enemy to the people, but you know, still enemy of the people is pretty stiff language. And many feel that maybe it's a sign that police, other security forces were about to be given the green light for, you know, tougher, more severe methods to try and bring the protest to an end. What's your expectation?

ANTONY DAPIRAN, LAWYER AND AUTHOR: Yes, that phrase, enemy of the people, is a really a classic piece of Chinese Communist Party speak going all the way back to Chairman Mao, who divided the population into the people and the enemies of the people. It does seem to be presaging an attempt by the government backed by Beijing to divide and conquer Hong Kong society. And certainly, it does seem to show that there's going to be no backing down and no compromise from Carrie Lam and her government.

VAUSE: And what was interesting, Beijing was asked about the violence and the protests in Hong Kong. And here's how a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry responded or non-responded, if you like, to that. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENG SHUANG, SPOKESMAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): This is not a diplomatic affair. I suggest you to Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office for your question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There was also this very stingy editorially at the Global Times, which is a mainland tabloid, considered even by Chinese standards to be very pro-Beijing. It read in part, "We sternly condemn the mobs for the barbarity of setting those ordinary citizens, those who disagree with them, on fire. Their appalling behavior has become indistinguishable from that of I.S. (Islamic State) members." Could just those two factors alone, could that be seen as an endorsement of Carrie Lam by Beijing on whatever she decides to do next is OK with them?

DAPIRAN: I think that's absolutely the case. It's been interesting, this narrative coming out of Beijing, which was really touched upon in both those grabs, one, that this is an entirely domestic Chinese affair and that foreign governments should keep out and that this is, you know, to the extent there have been protest, there have been a foreign plot.

And secondly, that the violent protests are verging on terrorism. And what's been interesting is that the Hong Kong people don't seem to be buying that line, and notwithstanding the increasing level of violence on the protesters' side. The general population here seemed to be continually looking at what the police are doing and placing the blame for the escalating violence on the police and the government's lack of response, rather than blaming the protesters. I think Beijing and Carrie Lam would prefer that they did.

VAUSE: Because we know from the police chief, as well, he basically said this is a lose-lose for everyone, but it sounds by the reaction from most people there in Hong Kong or at least a good number of people, that it's the riot police or the police which are in the losing seat here.

DAPIRAN: Absolutely. I think one of the greatest casualties of the last few months of protests here in Hong Kong has been the relationship between the Hong Kong people and their police force, and the reputation of the police force among the broader community. They're starting to become seen as Beijing's enforcers here in Hong Kong, a far cry from Asia's finest, sort of a community-based police force that they had been seen as previously. People see incidents like that, shooting incident on Monday, you know, very clear video of a police officer shooting an unarmed protester. They don't see a violent protest or attacking a police officer, they see an innocent protester being shot by a police officer, you know, in cold blood some would see it. And that really is continuing to inflame the tensions here among the people.

VAUSE: Well, with that in mind, the U.S. State Department has issued what seemed to be a sort of boilerplate call for restraint on both sides. Here's a part of it, "We condemn violence on all sides, extend our sympathies to victims of violence regardless of their political inclinations, and call for all parties, police and protesters, to exercise restraint. We repeat President Trump's call for a humane resolution to the protests." You know, fairly tepid statement from the United States.

So, last month, though, CNN reported during a private phone call in June, President Donald Trump promised Chinese President Xi Jinping that the U.S. would remain quiet on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong while trade talks continued. OK, the trade talks is sort of going on, kind of, but does that explain why a country, the U.S., which usually has been a cheerleader for democracy, at the very least, is trying desperately to avoid taking sides.

DAPIRAN: Yes, there's been some interesting back and forth in the U.S. position. On the one hand, we do have these sort of fairly lukewarm statements like this statement and President Trump's promise to keep out of Hong Kong. On the other hand, we have this human rights and Democracy Act, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, working its way through Congress. It seems to have paused.

But a lot of the protesters here in Hong Kong have been putting a great deal of faith in the U.S., hoping that the U.S. government would come to their aid, would pass that Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, and continue to draw attention to their cause in Hong Kong. It does seem to be a little bit blowing hot and cold coming from the U.S. And I think the protesters should realize that they can't rely on the U.S. to solve their problems for them.

[01:25:09]

VAUSE: Yes, it's interesting. We're out of time, but there is -- you have Congress, which seems to be a lot more interested and concerned about what's happening in Hong Kong. And then, there's the executive of the White House, which doesn't seem to be as interested or that concern. But, Antony, great to have you with us. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.

DAPIRAN: Thank you. Thanks.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, unprecedented fire danger in Australia. Dozens of bushfires burning in the east. Authorities warn the conditions are as severe as they can get.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour. Three more transcripts of closed-door testimony in the U.S. Impeachment Inquiry have been released on Monday, two days ahead of public hearings. Senior Pentagon official Laura Cooper testified, the U.S. envoy to Ukraine told her, he was trying to lift the hold on military aide by having Ukraine publicly announced an investigation into President Trump's political rival.

Israel has killed a senior member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, Abu Bahaa al-Atta, was targeted in Gaza. And this was the scene moments after that in Gaza City. Israel says he was responsible for rocket fire and was plotting immediate attacks on Israelis. Islamic Jihad and Hamas who -- which rules the Gaza Strip, both vowing a response. Rockets have already started firing from Gaza into Israel. More protests underway in Hong Kong after a day of extreme violence. A police officer shot a demonstrator on Monday. And a man who confronted protesters was set on fire. The city's Chief Executive has said what she calls, the rioters and their acts is being enemies of the people.

[01:29:55]

Evo Morales on his way to Mexico after being granted asylum. The former Bolivian president was forced to resign amid protests and allegations of election fraud. Morales' departure leaves behind a power vacuum with no immediate successor to take over the reins of government.

Well, to Australia now, where Queensland and New South Wales are facing catastrophic fire danger levels, the highest level possible.

At least 71 bush fires are burning in New South Wales. Smoke is so intense it could be seen from outer space, and has drifted across the chasm (ph) to New Zealand.

Fire crews are getting little help from the weather. On Monday mainland Australia did not get a single drop of rain for the first time since record keeping began.

With Australia facing an unprecedented bushfire emergency spread across two east coast states, a political firestorm has erupted over the role of climate change. The co-deputy leader of the Green Party, Adam Bandt called on the federal government to enact a new climate change agreement. And said the prime minister needed to act with the speed and urgency as one of his predecessors, Jon Howard, who was in 12 days of the 1996 mass shooting of Port Arthur announced sweeping new gun laws called the National Firearms Agreement.

And that brought a fierce response from the current deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MCCORMACK, AUSTRALIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: That's what Adam Bandt and the Greens and Richard Di Natale and all those -- all those other inner city raving lunatics. And quite frankly that's how he was carried on yesterday.

That's what they want. We're not going to go down that path. They're going to do the right and responsible thing. But at the moment our focus is on making sure that we get these fires out. It's not about political cheap point scoring as Adam Bandt would want us to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Take a look at this map of Australia because this is where the fires are burning right now. You can see it's across the entire country. But obviously New South Wales, around Sydney and Queensland around the state capital of Brisbane is where there is most concern.

The greater Sydney area, for the first time on Tuesday, the fire danger rating was at "catastrophic". Officials have declared a state of emergency across New South Wales. So too have 42 local government authorities to the north in the state of Queensland.

The past ten months have been the hottest on record in Australia and the "City Morning Herald" is reporting that New South Wales could see a million hectares burned so far this fire season within days. If it hasn't already done so.

That is about the same as the past three fire seasons the combined. And summer is yet to arrive. Rain fall deficiencies or what most called drought are already the worst on record for northern New South Wales and parts of southern Queensland.

And the New South Wales fire service has issued a very blunt warning. "Due to the scale of the fires and the dangerous conditions, if you need help today you may not get it."

And in the midst of this disaster for the conservative government and supporters in the media, they're all insisting now is not the time to talk climate change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is sickening politicking. Bandt is looking to advance his political agenda on the back of lost lives and destroyed property.

There's no one on this planet who's stupid enough to think that shutting down coal fired power stations will put an end to bush fires.

There is no one on this planet stupid enough to think that Australian energy policies will have any impact on the global climate while global emissions continue to rise dramatically.

There's no one on this planet stupid enough to think that if every person in Australia stop using their cars and only use renewable energy it would be make any difference to any climate anywhere in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, the 11,000 scientists who declared a climate emergency last week because of global warming are perhaps that stupid. Among their urgent recommendation, we should leave remaining stocks of fossil fuel in the ground. Presumably so they don't get to those coal fire power stations in the first place.

The reality is climate change does not cause bushfires but it does lead to high temperatures, less rainfall or drought. Especially in these parts of Australia. And recently California as well. And that is what causes the tinder dry conditions, which make bush fires season longer, more deadly and more destructive and yes that's unprecedented.

Let's go to Pedram Javaheri at the CNN Weather Center with the forecast and the outlooks for these fires.

You know, this is the thing -- it's not exactly nuanced but, you know, I thought we've moved this whole climate change causing storms and bush fires. It just makes it worse.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN WEATHER. Yes. It doesn't help. You know that the current situation too, you know. It's unprecedented as far as the largest number of fires of course, across this two states -- John.

And we take a look at the pattern in place right now. The wind speed is high enough to support the fires expanding further inside the next 24 yours, of course, across Queensland, across New South Wales.

When you break down the numbers, we're talking about well over 100 active fires across this particularly region and only 30 of which are contained.

[01:34:57]

JAVAHERI: So when you look at the broad scale of it, you look at the locations right along the coast -- or very close to it -- we know the dense population across this region certainly going to be impacted. Upwards of 7.5 million people call their area across New South Wales home. And a lot of them are very close to these fires.

So the current forecast, you take a look at what has happened here, we're seeing winds at this hour across portions of Australia. The front skirting by as much as 50 to almost 60 kilometers per hour. Worked your way just north of Sydney towards these New Castle airport -- a current wind gust of 56 kilometers per hour.

So even if you don't have a significant number of fires on the ground that sort of a wind speed certainly makes it for a catastrophic go for any fire in the vicinity but when you calculate 120 them across the region -- this is why you see that we have a catastrophic fire danger across the Sidney City, across the Hunter region, as well as other areas in this particular area. Just to the eastern most areas of Sydney itself.

So really an impactful event taking place. And the front itself skirting right by with it much cooler temperatures. That's really the only piece of good news here. We had temperatures up to 36 degrees in the past 24 hours.

At this hour they've dropped down into the lower twenties but, of course, they're accompanied by wind gusts in places over 60 kilometers per hour and this is the forecast taking us through Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night as we go through this evening.

We expect the winds to continue to gust potentially a little bit higher within the next say two to three hours and then across Port McQuery (ph) and also northbound towards Brisbane. That's when we think the winds will begin to pick up an intensity as we go into the overnight hours and eventually Wednesday morning as much as again 50 to 60 kilometers per hour.

So this is the worst of the event, here in place right now. The fire certainly we'll see what comes of them within the next 24 hours once the winds finally die down.

But John -- you know in the immediate forecast, the cool air that's currently in place will once again rebound -- of course, it is the warm season -- once again rebound back up to around 30 degrees by later this week. So a warming trend in store again.

VAUSE: Yes. And coming into summer it's just going to get hotter. I mean these bushfire seasons are getting longer and longer as time goes by.

Pedram -- thank you for the update. We appreciate it.

JAVAHERI: Thanks.

VAUSE: When we come back. A bizarre case grabbing headlines in Russia. A Napoleon reenactor was been charged with murder. And we'll tell you what police found in his backpack when they pulled him from a river in St. Petersburg -- gruesome and bizarre. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Jimmy Carter, the oldest living former U.S. president will undergo surgery in Atlanta in the coming hours to relieve pressure on his brain. The 95-year-old is said to be resting comfortably with his wife Rosalynn by his side.

Carter was in the hospital twice last month after a fall at his home, and has previously survived brain and liver cancer.

A high-profile supporter of the Syrian White Helmets Rescue group has been found dead in Istanbul, Turkey. James La Mezra (ph) was a former British Army officer who's made a group to help to train and equip the rescue workers.

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VAUSE: He received funding from the U.N. and a number of foreign governments including the U.K. The 48-year-old's death is still being investigated but a friend tells CNN that his wife believes he fell from a balcony.

A prominent Russian historian behind bars, charged with murder days after police pulled him from a river in St. Petersburg. In his backpack was a gruesome discovery. But it all got a whole lot worse when investigators went to his apartment.

We pick up the story now from CNN's Matthew Chance.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are some crimes that grip a nation with horror and shame. Like this gruesome butchering of a young Russian student, Anastasia Yushenko (ph) allegedly by her 63- year-old history lecturer and lover, now hiding his face in court from the public gaze.

One of Russia's most distinguished academics -- Oleg Sokolov is now accused of being one of its most notorious killers after he confessed in court.

The painstaking search for evidence has taken to the waterways. It's in this dark river that cuts through the Russian city of St. Petersburg that Sokolov allegedly tried to hide his crime.

Russian state television broadcasting this grainy security video of what police say is him dumping a bag of body parts into the river. He then slipped in himself. Apparently drunk, and had to be rescued.

Police divers have already retrieved the severed arms and legs of the 24-year-old victim from this body of water -- the Moiko (ph) river in central Saint Petersburg. You can see they are hard at work now dredging this water to see if they can find any other evidence, possibly other body parts.

They've already retrieved the headless corpse of the victim from this building here, where the professor had an apartment.

Sokolov is known for staging Napoleonic war reenactments -- a passion he seems to have shared with his student and lover -- 39 years his junior.

Not only did that match raise few concerns at the prestigious St. Petersburg State University but one fellow academics says as other allegedly abusive relationships between Sokolov and students were also ignored. The university has yet to comment.

"They defended him. They made him out to be a hero and she stayed with him," the academic told us, "No attention was paid to my warning. If they fired him, if Oleg had been fired, Anastasia would have been alive today," he added.

And perhaps one more horrific and shameful crime in Russia may have been prevented.

Matthew Chance, CNN -- St. Petersburg.

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

"WORLD SPORT" starts after the break. You're watching CNN.

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