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Trump Returning to U.S. After Visit to Afghanistan; Seoul: North Korea Fired Two Projectiles; Families Call Hillsborough Not Guilty Verdict a Disgrace; Viral Video Accuses China Of Abusing Uyghur Muslims; K-Pop Scrutinized Over Mental Health After Star's Death; Community Surprises Pennsylvania Veteran Spending Holiday Alone; Trump Visits Afghanistan, Re-open Talks with the Taliban; Investigations into Iraq's Deadly Protests; North Korea Test Fire Two Missiles; Hong Kong Police Takes Control of Polytechnic University; Not Guilty for Police Commander in Hillsborough Tragedy; High School Students in Australia Protest Over Bushfires Caused by Climate Change; Boris Johnson No-Show at Climate Debate. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 29, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I am Michael Holmes. And coming up here on "CNN Newsroom" 'tis the season of peace, the U.S. president says talks with the Taliban, which he canceled are now back on during a surprise visit to Afghanistan.
Protesters across the world demanding action on climate change as researchers issue another stark warning about a planet in peril.
The Thanksgiving food coma has worn off and frenzied consumers in the U.S. are cramming shopping malls to snag the best Black Friday deals. One major U.S. retailer tells us why his companies is instead shutting its doors.
U.S. President Donald Trump on his way back to the U.S. after making an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday under extraordinary secrecy. At Bagram Airbase, the president said that the peace talks had restarted with the Taliban.
Just last September, he abruptly ended those talks and said the Taliban were dead to him. Here is what he said as he met with the Afghan president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Taliban wants to make a deal. We will see if they make a deal. If they do, they do, and if they don't, they don't. That's fine, but we have had tremendous success and I think what I would like to do is perhaps, General, if you could say just a couple of words before President Ghani could tell him about how we have literally decimated ISIS in Afghanistan and also al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Although Mr. Trump notes success on the battlefield, friction between Mr. Trump and some U.S. military leaders is spilling into the open. We get more from CNN's Barbara Starr.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump says he thinks the Taliban are ready for a cease fire and the negotiations with them are back on. All of this emerging on Thanksgiving Day as Mr. Trump made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan and met with the Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani.
Also greeting a number of U.S. troops at the Bagram Airbase. Getting a peace agreement in Afghanistan is really critical for Mr. Trump's goal of reducing troop levels -- 13,000 troops there right now. He wants to get it down to about 8,600.
And obviously at some point when the Afghan aren't able to stand on their own and have -- be able to protect security in their country, eventually withdraw all U.S. troops.
During the Thanksgiving visit, he took pains to thank the troops to remind them that America of course is behind them, thank them for their service so far away from home.
It comes at a tough time, though. It has been a difficult week for the U.S. military. Mr. Trump has intervened in several cases of war crimes allegations and issued pardons, exoneration of troops involved in those, not gone down particularly well with the top brass at the Pentagon.
And it actually, of course, has led to the firing of the Navy secretary, Richard Spencer, who then penned a scathing editorial op-ed in the "Washington Post" saying that Mr. Trump simply did not understand what it meant to serve in the U.S. military with uniform regulations and uniform discipline across the board.
For the U.S. military, they very much want to stay out of politics, Mr. Trump making that difficult for them, at least during this past week. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
HOLMES: Journalist Zakarya Hassani joins us now on the line from the Afghan capital. I am curious what the sentiment is in Afghanistan after what the president said, and he did not give a lot of detail. He said the Taliban wants a deal. Is there any evidence of that? Are they willing to agree to cease fire?
ZAKARYA HASSANI, JOURNALIST (via telephone): Well, as you say, President Trump during at a speech at Bagram Airbase announced that the Taliban is willing to a cease fire (inaudible) a cease fire and to a peace deal.
And he also announced that the United States is going to pull out all of their -- all the way from Afghanistan -- which I think is a good time for Afghan people and actually are (inaudible) with Taliban. As you know, previously, full withdrawal of the U.S. and the coalition force from Afghanistan -- troops from Afghanistan was a big condition of the Taliban.
[02:05:00]
They wanted all of these forces out of Afghanistan in order to step down with the Afghan official and (inaudible) United States in order to talk on the (inaudible) itself of the talks.
So with this, we cannot- you know, a good kind or a great kind of any peace or any imminent peace deal in Afghanistan as President Trump said, you know, we don't have -- actually there is a lack of confidence among Afghan's (inaudible) and officials as well --
HOLMES: Exactly, and you know, given that Donald Trump has promised to draw down the troops, I mean, for a start, how would the U.S. enforce any agreement with the Taliban? And what are the concerns among Afghan's of a recurrence of civil war, of violence again?
HASSANI: Well, the main concern among Afghans is that (inaudible) cannot guarantee a long lasting peace in Afghanistan. What they hear as now are and considering the previous negotiations and previous talks with the Taliban is that Afghan people think that United States are (inaudible) and seeking for withdrawal, a full withdrawal from Afghanistan.
And they believe that a (inaudible) deal can only pave the way for the United States troop withdrawal and it cannot guarantee a long lasting peace and it cannot guarantee a cease fire, and it cannot finally, it cannot guarantee to put an end to the war.
So, what the people of Afghanistan have enough understand right now is that in exchange of a peace deal, a possible peace deal, what they're going to lose? What kind of achievement? What kind of, you know, value?
Afghan people have not been clear at all about these values and, you know, these things that they should be given in exchange for a peace deal. So these are the concerns among Afghan --
HOLMES: You know, the thing is, it is what the Taliban would agree to. I mean, I was in Afghanistan in 2002 and what we saw there was what the Taliban had done to society, the lack of education for girls.
Everything, through to the destroyed film industry, music was banned. Can Afghan's see the Taliban suddenly abandoning all the things they had forced upon people?
HASSANI: That is exactly what Afghan people doesn't know exactly about. You know, Afghan people have been continuously told by the Afghan officials that the past 18 years achievement, which also include the role of girls with education, the music, the freedom of speech.
You know, all of these values, all the achievement of the past 18 years, Afghan officials have been constant (ph) with all the Afghan people, that these are all the red lines and they're not going to negotiate on these things with the Taliban.
But the fact is that if you want a peace deal, we have to lose some of these values and it is not clearly, you know, it is not clear that in exchange for what Afghan people and what the Afghan government should be given.
Whether it is the right to -- right of expression -- free expression, the right to have education, the right of Afghan girls, you know, to education or any other values or, you know, achievements.
HOLMES: Yes. There are tough times ahead either way. Zakaria Hassani in the Afghan capital, thank you so much.
HASSANI: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, the Iraqi government, cracking down on anti-government protests, launching investigation after at least 31 people were killed just this week.
On, Wednesday demonstrators torched the Iranian consulate in Najaf. And on Thursday, security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Nasiriyah. CNN's Sam Kiley with more on why protesters are outraged.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Live rounds snap as they fly past. Automatic weapons in use against Iraqi civilians in Nasiriyah. At least 13 dead as riot and demonstrations continue into the second month against a government apparently bereft of any response but violence.
This is blood, he says. This is Iraqi blood. A lot has been spilled already. Well over 300 dead and 15,000 injured across the center and south of Iraq.
Tens of thousands have been protesting they say against the sheer dominated government's corruption, mismanagement, sectarianism, and increasingly against Iran's close involvement in Iraq's political life.
[02:10:05]
Here, torching the consulate of Iran as Shia theocracy in Najaf, the heart of the Shia religion. Not long ago, such an act would've been unthinkable, but anti-Iranian feeling is so high, it's the second time rioters have attempted to burn an Iranian consulate in the Shia region this month.
When the consulate was set on fire, all the riot police in Najaf and the security forces started firing on us as if we were burning the whole of Iraq, he says.
Iran has called for a firm response from the Iraqi government after its diplomats were evacuated from the burned consulate. The U.S. and other nations have joined the U.N. in calling on the Baghdad government to meet the demands from the streets for new elections.
The prime minister has offered to resign weeks ago but he remains in office. In the port city of Basra, Bakr Ibrahim (ph) summed up the national frustration. He said, "I've lived in deprivation and hunger for years. My life can be briefly described as injustice after injustice."
Iraq's government has shown no signs that it understands this, but it is comfortable with using brute force. Sam Kiley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: North Korea says it has tested what it calls a super large multiple launch rocket system. South Korea says two projectiles were launched, the 13th since May.
Leader Kim Jong-un inspecting the test fire saying it was success, but the U.S. condemning the launch. It calls on North Korea to "avoid provocations, abide by obligations under the U.SN. Security Council Resolutions and return to sustained and substantive negotiations in part to do its part to achieve complete denuclearization." Of course, none of those things have actually happened.
To Hong Kong, where police have handed back control of Polytechnic University to university management. Police finished sweeping the campus after protesters occupied it for two weeks. Police say they found thousands of petrol bombs and hundreds of bottles of corrosive liquids.
Meanwhile, protesters celebrated after President Trump signed legislation supporting their movement, but China accuses the U.S. of backing violent criminals. Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, Joshua Wong, says the new U.S. law shows China that America's priority is human rights over economic interests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSHUA WONG, PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: We are aware actions speak louder than words at least, how President Trump doing the trade the war promise and signed on the bill 24 hours ago. It already sent a clear signal to Beijing. They cannot ignore the voice of Hong Kong people.
We have continued to ask for and demanding the U.S. Congress and administration to pass and sign on the bill and we hope the administration on 2020 before the U.S. presidential election can launch and to implement the sanction mechanism to sanction riot police and government official with abuse of power in Hong Kong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There is no indication as of now that President Trump intends to actually enact any of the powers in that law.
In the United Kingdom, families of the Hillsborough victim are calling Thursday's not guilty verdict a disgrace. Former police superintendent, David Duckenfield has been cleared in the worst sports disaster in British history.
Duckenfield, now 75 years old, face charges of gross negligence manslaughter in the deaths of 95 Liverpool supporters. They were crushed to death at a football match. He was the match commander at the time.
Duckenfield's lawyer said in a statement after the verdict, "David is of course relieved that the jury has found him not guilty, however, his thoughts and sympathies remain with the families of those who lost their loved ones."
Earlier, we heard from people who have lost loved ones in the disaster. Here is what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET ASPINALL, SON KILLED IN HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER: The question I'd like to ask, all of you, and people within the system, then who, but the 96 in their graves, who is accountable for 96 of (inaudible) killed? What a disgrace this is being today and what a shame of this country of ours. I feel so embarrassed.
CHRISTINE BURKE, FATHER KILLED IN HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER: Somebody has got to be held responsible for 96 deaths, the biggest sporting disaster in British history and nobody is being charged for it. It is absolutely outrageous.
JENNI HICKS, TWO DAUGHTERS KILLED IN HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER: We've now got to live with knowing that all our loved ones, all of the families' loved ones were unlawfully killed and we've now got to live with well, who is accountable for their deaths, then?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:15:05]
HOLMES: It is now unlikely that anyone will ever be held responsible for those deaths. CNN's Don Riddell looks at the disaster and how and what led to the tragedy was hidden.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Premier League is promoted as the best football league in the world. Every week, it's games are broadcast all over the globe, taking viewers inside England's state-of-the-art all-seater stadium.
But 27 years ago, it was a very different story. Stadiums were decrepit. Many fans stood. The scourge of hooligans meant that rival supporters were kept apart by fencing. They were pinned in on all sides.
PHIL SCRANTON, AUTHOR, HILLSBOROUGH: THE TRUTH: The conditions of the stadium, we took them for granted. We would cheer when people were handed down who had fainted at the top and they were handed down to the front and passed over to the ambulance people. We cheered because it was just part of the way it was.
RIDDELL (voice-over): But in 1989, one game changed everything. It was April 15th, the semifinal of the FA Cup between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
More than 50,000 fans of both teams had traveled to a neutral venue in Sheffield, Hillsborough stadium. Usually fans access the stadium one at a time, but a crush outside prompted the local police in charge of crowd safety to open a large exit gate.
In that instant, some 2,000 fans creamed (ph) went down a tunnel into a section behind the goal, an enclosed section that was all ready too full. And then as the game kicked off, in full view of the stadium and the live television cameras, hundreds of people were crushed.
WENDY WHITE, HILLSBOROUGH SURVIVOR: I thought it was like, you might imagine held to be where people are dying, people are dead, all the people don't know what to do.
RIDDELL (voice-over): The game was stopped after just six minutes. Back in the dressing room, Liverpool's manager, Kenny Dalglish, tried to counsel his players.
BRUCE GROBBELAAR, FORMER LIVERPOOL GOALKEEPER: All the sudden, a fan came in with tears in his eyes and shouting there's 10 people dead. What do you mean? He said it's like a war zone over there.
RIDDELL (voice-over): Hundreds of people had been injured, and for 96 Liverpool fans, those injuries proved fatal.
GROBBELAAR: And you see them pressed up against the fence, and for them to get the air sucked out of them like that must be the most horrific way to go.
RIDDELL (voice-over): It was an unspeakable nightmare and one that would only get worse. As the disaster was still unfolding, police pinned the blame on the fans, saying they had arrived late, drunk and without tickets.
SCRANTON: People initially were stunned that the truth could be so quickly fabricated. And within days, they were being held responsible for the deaths of their loved ones or their friends.
So, it hit people at their most traumatized and I think that it united the city and the region immediately around a search for what they considered to be the real truth.
RIDDELL (voice-over): Professor Phil Scraton himself was a Liverpool fan and he worked doggedly to uncover the real truth. What he found was a shocking cover-up at official levels.
PHIL SCRATON, CRIMINOLOGIST: What I'm illustrating in these two statements is where they overlap word for word.
RIDDELL (voice-over): But his dedicated research and the fans tireless campaigning took decades to force the British establishment to change the narrative. Finally, the longest running inquest in British legal history determined the real story.
The whole world now knows what the victim's families and survivors have known all along, it was never their fault. Don Riddell, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A powerful report there from Don Riddell. All right, historic floods, raging wildfires, now a stark warning about climate change. Is it too late to stop it? Just ahead, a troubling new report.
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[02:20:00]
HOLMES: There has been anger, determination well. On the streets of Sydney, Australia, thousands of students were to be the first out to begin the global climate change protest. You see them there.
They say that the bush fires that have burned for weeks now down under have been caused by climate change. Recently, protesters stormed the field during the Harvard Yale football game.
Activists around the world are showing solidarity, demanding action from governments and big business. They also hope leaders at next week's U.N. climate conference in Madrid get the message.
The European parliament has in fact voted to declare a climate emergency as a new study warns the world is already at a tipping point. Research published in the scientific journal "Nature" say irreversible changes are already taking place and hothouse conditions may soon make some areas uninhabitable.
Our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon has reported extensively on the climate crisis. She has more now on that new report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This group of researchers is talking about irreversible changes to the Earth's environmental systems that are already taking place. This is irreversible change to the very planet that sustains all life including ours.
What they are warning about is the need for rapid and immediate action to stop the pace of our greenhouse gas emissions before that becomes irreversible.
They are warning that we are on a global tipping point, the point of no return and they highlight nine areas in particular where they say there is evidence that we have already reached this tipping point or are very close to it.
And these areas go -- stretch from the Arctic and the loss of sea ice there, down to the Antarctic and the loss of glacial ice, Greenland, the permafrost, and Russia that acts as a cover and prevents carbon dioxide from leaving the land underneath it, to areas in the United States, to the Amazon.
What they are saying we must do now is stop this current trend that we are on. We have significantly increased, as opposed to decreased, greenhouse gas emissions.
And what this report is saying is that we have even less time than we thought we did. If we continue on this current trend as we already know, we are on track for three degrees of warming.
We need to drop that down significantly and what these researchers are saying is that even one degree of warming could have an environmental impact that we are not yet aware of.
[02:25:02]
And what they're talking about if we don't address this immediately is the kind of weather, the kind of change to this planet that is going to significantly impact every single one of us. Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, climate change also an issue in Britain's upcoming general election, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson passed up a television climate change debate.
He was actually then represented on stage by the organizers by a melting block of ice. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was also a no- show and he was a block of ice as well.
Among those who did participate, the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who promised to plant 300 million trees during his first term as prime minister if elected and liberal democrat Jo Swinson who tied climate change to the Brexit debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JO SWINSON, BRITISH LIBERAL DEMOCRAT LEADER: I totally agree --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank. You
SWINSON: -- that the role that we play internationally is so important on this. But surely you can see that's why it's so important that we keep our seat at the European Union table because we have led the way in Europe on this.
Europe has led the world. That's how we got the ambitious Paris Accord through, and turning our back on the European Union is turning our back on our best way of fighting the climate emergency.
JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH LABUOR PARTY LEADER: I'm always the last one to turn the heating on. In fact, we turn it on for the first time last week in my house and that was very low temperature anyway and I turned it off pretty quickly after that.
I'm quite miserable, actually, on this basis because I don't like to see the waste of energy that goes with it. And also, it is about -- everybody can grow something if they've got a garden or a window box or whatever.
You can grow appropriate plants which do improve biodiversity and so you can plant lavender or something, which attracts bees and so on. So, I do all of that in my garden and on my allotment and in my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Prime Minister Johnson's Conservative Party was not amused by that pole ice thing, calling the move a provocative, partisan stunt. Now, for every gloomy report, there is someone working to make a difference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each of us in every country contributes a particular amount of CO2 into the atmosphere, some depending on where they live more than others. But if we make a few small tweaks to our daily routines, together we can make a big impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN's "Call to Earth" series shows us a multitude of different ways to address climate change. We learn more about our commitment. If you want to, our commitment to the crisis facing the planet, head over to cnn.com/calltoearth.
A short break now. When we come, back Kurdish authorities claim Turkish forces are targeting their clinics and ambulances in Syria. Ankara says that is not true so CNN went to see. We will take you inside northern Syria just ahead.
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[02:30:00]
HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes. Time to update you on the top stories this hour.
U.S. President Donald Trump on his way back to the U.S. after making an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday. At Bagram Air Base, the President said that peace talks had restarted with the Taliban. Just last September, he abruptly terminated those same talks.
North Korea says it has tested what it calls a super-large multiple launch rocket system. South Korea says two projectiles were launched, the 13th launch since May. Later, Kim Jong-un inspected the test fire, saying it was a success.
In the U.K., families of the Hillsborough soccer stadium tragedy are calling Thursday's not guilty verdict, a disgrace. Former police superintendent David Duckenfield is being cleared in the world's worst sports disaster in British history.
Duckenfield is now 75 years old and faced charges of gross negligence manslaughter in the deaths of 95 Liverpool supporters crushed to death, at a football match in 1989. He was the match commander at the time.
Police in Italy have broken up a neo-Nazi ring after a two-year investigation. Police say they raided the homes of 19 people who wanted to create a pro-Nazi party. Officers uncovered firearms and Nazi propaganda, celebrating Adolf Hitler, embodied a miscellany. Police say the group had connections across Europe and used social media to recruit and train militants.
The U.N.'s refugee chief wants Europe to come up with a new way to share responsibility of dealing with asylum seekers. Currently, migrant-seeking refuge in Europe must make their claims at their first port of entry. Filippo Grandi says this puts a heavy burden on Mediterranean countries.
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FILIPPO GRANDI, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: Europe has to get its act together on these issues anyways. You know, the Dublin principles that everybody has to go and seek asylum in the first country in Europe in which they enter was perhaps OK, 20 years ago, when there were few people.
But is completely inadequate now, so Europe has to have a new system that is based more on sharing, on responsibility sharing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The European commission has considered using quotas to distribute asylum seekers more evenly across Europe and ease the pressure on the so-called frontline countries. But some E.U. states including Hungary and Austria, blocked that idea.
European countries also battling the migrant problem on a different front. Aid workers say governments are targeting them even though they're trying to rescue migrants from drowning at sea. As Simon Cullen reports, it's part of an anti-human smuggling crackdown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON CULLEN, CNN JOURNALIST: In different circumstances, these rescuers might have been considered heroes, pulling migrants from dangerously overcrowded boats, as they make their way towards the Greek island of Lesbos.
SEAN BINDER, SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEER: We have two search and rescue boats, we have scuba equipment, we have a very well-trained medical team, which could respond within seven minutes, whereas the ambulance sometimes trundled along at 40 minutes.
CULLEN: So, the difference is life or death for some.
BINDER: It can be.
CULLEN: But rather than being celebrated, they're being charged. Sean Binder is facing a string of serious accusations in Greece.
BINDER: Being part of a criminal organization, money laundering, obviously tantamount to smuggling or actions that are tantamount to smuggling and espionage or spying, and so we still face centuries in prison.
CULLEN: He's not alone. In June, the captain of the Sea-Watch rescue ship, Carola Rackete, was arrested by Italian authorities after docking on the island of Lampedusa.
CAROLA RACKETE, CAPTAIN, SEA-WATCH RESCUE SHIP: We unfortunately didn't have any other option than to enter the port without permission.
CULLEN: On board with 40 migrants who had been rescued from the Mediterranean. Rackete was later released from arrest, but still faces an ongoing investigation under anti-people smuggling laws, laws enabled by an E.U. directive.
The 2002 directive was designed to combat people smuggling. It allows countries to prosecute anyone helping someone else enter Europe, illegally. It doesn't require them to be a financial motive, but the humanitarian exemption clause is only optional, many countries can choose whether or not they enact it.
Over recent years, the number of migrants arriving by sea, has been falling. At the same time, according to E.U. funded research, there's been an increase in the number of criminal investigations targeting aid workers and NGOs.
[02:35:06]
RACKETE: They're criminalizing human beings helping other human beings, being in need. And not just (INAUDIBLE) some.
CULLEN: As a result of the crackdown, there are now fewer rescue ships operating on the Mediterranean, a region that has claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 migrants in the past six years.
In a statement to CNN, the European commission acknowledges there is a lack of clarity in the implementation of the humanitarian exemption clause, and says it will continue to gather more evidence about how the directive is being applied.
ELISA DE PIERI, RESEARCHER, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: The case has been made to them, that these prosecutors are in large part trumped up, and they shouldn't happen at all. I think they are not convinced yet that this is a sufficiently serious problem in the world, and that the change of the directive.
CULLEN: Rescuers warned if it's not changed, the criminal charges will continue. BINDER: The effect has been to embroil us in costly and lengthy legal procedures, and this act as a form of deterrence. It has frightened people away from doing this kind of work, and this is work that is sanctioned by international law, without a doubt.
CULLEN: A situation he says that will result in more deaths at sea. Simon Cullen, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: To the Middle East now where Kurds are accusing Turkey of targeting their medical teams during the Turkish incursion into Northern Syria, which began last month. Human rights groups have accused Turkish proxies on the ground, of human rights abuses, even war crimes. CNN's Clarissa Ward went to see for herself and sent this report from Northern Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Doctors perform surgeries by headlamp as a battle, rages. This was the scene at the Ras al-Ayn hospital, as the Turkish military continued its offensive against Kurdish forces in Northern Syria. Medic Jamila Hami was inside and quickly realized there was no way in or out.
JAMILA HAMI, MEDIC (through translator): It's a very difficult feeling when you know your hospital is going to be destroyed and the ambulances are going to be destroyed and there's just a few steps between you and the wounded, but you can't go to save them. The screams of the children from Ras Al-Ayn are still ringing in my ear.
WARD: It was the first but not the last time Kurdish authorities would accuse Turkish forces of targeting medical infrastructure, a charge that Turkey strongly denies. According to the Rojava Information Center, Kurdish ambulances and clinics have regularly been hit and at least five medical workers killed.
Paramedic Luay Bakir tells us he was driving to the front lines, when a rocket landed right in front of his ambulance, petrified, he and his co-workers jumped out of the vehicle and hit by the side of the road. Then, another rocket hit.
LUAY BAKIR, PARAMEDIC (through translator): Once I regained consciousness, I looked down and my leg was bleeding. I tried to move my arm, and I couldn't. I looked at all my colleagues with me and none of them were moving. They were lying still. Some were screaming and calling for help.
WARD: One of them, 23-year-old Hayal Saleh, was killed. But the threat is not just from munitions. The Kurdish Red Crescent says three of its workers were kidnapped and murdered by Turkish-backed fighters.
Human rights groups have accused Turkish proxies on the ground of rampant abuses and even extrajudicial killings. The U.N. and the U.S. have urged Turkey to investigate. Officially, there is now a ceasefire in place here, but violations are frequent.
You can hear the sounds of those jets circling overhead. Jamila was telling us it's like this all day, every day.
Over the past few weeks, a steady stream of casualties has flowed in to her hospital, many of them, civilians. Despite the risks, Jamila says she has no intention of stopping her work.
HAMI (through translator): Everyone is afraid of the sound of a plane or a shell, but we have people who need us and we have to rescue them.
WARD: As long as the violence continues, she fears there will be many more lives to save. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Tal Tamr, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Concern over how mental health is handled in the K-pop music industry, after the latest suspected suicide of a K-pop star. When we come back, hear what some insiders are saying.
[02:40:10] You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Ukraine is accusing Apple of making a version of its app for maps that seems to legitimize Russia's annexation of Crimea. If you're in Russia, the Apple map shows the disputed territory as Russian, but if you're outside of Russia, Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Hadas Gold explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AND BUSINESS REPORTER: There's been a lot of talk recently about the splinter net, where people in different parts of the world get a totally different online experience because of political or commercial reasons.
Well, we're seeing that now play out in real-time this week, with the Russian parliament announcing that Apple has acquiesced and how it portrays Crimea, the disputed Peninsula in the Black Sea. If you live in Russia and are looking for Crimea on your iPhone map or the weather app that comes pre-installed on your iPhone, you'll see that it is listed as being part of Russia.
But outside of Russia, like here in the U.K., it's either listed as part of Ukraine or not belonging to any country at all. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, though many western nations, including the United States, say it was done so illegally.
And violence continues in the conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian soldiers to this day. But according to Russian law, Crimea has to be designated as part of Russia.
And the Russian parliament announced that Apple had fixed what it said was, an inaccurate display. The company is not alone, though, in apparently falling into line with these Russian demands. Google maps also shows a border between Crimea and Ukraine for Russian users.
Ukrainian officials have slammed Apple. The foreign minister said in a series of tweets, that the company should stick to high-tech and entertainment. Global politics is not your strong side.
For their part, Apple has not yet responded to our request for comment. Hadas Gold, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The Chinese on social media, or app TikTok, is apologizing for the way it handled the viral video of a teenage girl who accused China of abusing Uyghur Muslims. The video starts with Feroza Aziz showing people how to curl her eyelashes, before she then denounces China's treatment of the minority community.
A TikTok official acknowledged it temporarily block the 17-year-old from accessing her account and that the video was briefly taken down because of a quote, human moderation error. TikTok adds it does not moderate political content. Aziz says she did not do anything wrong.
[02:45:10]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FEROZA AZIZ, CREATOR, TIKTOK VIRAL VIDEO: I just know that -- I knew that what I did was correct. What I did was amazing because I spread this news to a new audience -- to youth. And they know what's happening in our world now.
And because of using Tiktok, I reach millions --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The U.S. and other countries accused China of setting up mass detention camps and committing human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims. China insists the camps are voluntary "vocational training centers".
Mental health is a difficult thing to talk about in South Korea. But now, questions are being raised after the suspected suicide of yet another South Korean personality.
Paula Hancocks shows us what some industry insiders say could help entertainers deal with the pressure of K-pop stardom.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As South Korea mourns the loss of another young star, fans are asking why. Jong- hyun, Sulli, two stars in their prime who took their own lives. And now, Goo Hara is suspected of doing the same. Bringing scrutiny to the industry whose selling point is the immaculate image of its performers.
Carefully curated and packaged, stars face not only the pressure of fame but increasingly malicious online comments. K-pop industry analysts say female artists bear the brunt of cyberbullying. Singer Sulli was slammed for being outspoken about women's rights. And after Goo's boyfriend was convicted of assaulting her, and also blackmailing her by threatening to release their sex tape, numerous online comments attacked her for making the sex videos.
After a suspected suicide attempt in May, Goo revealed she was suffering from depression, a rare admission in the tight-lipped industry.
Brian Joo, a K-pop singer told CNN in the past, many stars feel unable to speak about their mental struggle.
BRIAN JOO, K-POP SINGER: As an entertainer, I'm already being judged for my career and my job. This is another thing that people can judge me on like, oh, I'm actually sad because of this and that. And though I feel like people are still pointing fingers at me all the time.
HANCOCKS: Brian says he suffered long-term periods of depression.
JOO: Because talking about it is just not something that a lot of people do in this country. And I think that's the main reason why, and that's how -- that's why a lot of K-pop singers feel like they're alone because they feel like they can't talk anybody about it.
HANCOCKS: A mental health expert and an industry analyst we spoke with, say stars need more accessibility to mental health professionals.
STACY NAM, K-POP EXPERT: They should have mental health specialists in every single entertainment agency. I think that it should be mandatory for not just -- you know, the top artists, but from people when they're trainees.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Kakao, one of the largest news services here in Korea has removed the comment section on its entertainment stories online, to try and stop cyberbullying. It is a step in the right direction according to mental health experts. But as this issue extends far beyond K-pop, so does the solution.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
HOLMES: When we come back, from blackouts to whiteouts. This Thanksgiving holiday was a weather nightmare for millions of Americans. We'll have a report on expected conditions in the days ahead.
And while shoppers are expected to spend billions of dollars this Black Friday, some stores are opting to lockout. The reasons, why, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:50:17] HOLMES: Two powerful winter storms left millions of Americans without power on Thanksgiving Day -- a little inconvenient. A mix of rain and snow crippling parts of the U.S. from California to the East Coast.
The storm is causing flight delays and some cancellations as well. In Colorado, icy conditions and excessive speed caused a bus to roll over, injuring several people.
Now, despite that bad weather, thousands of shoppers across the U.S. are braving the elements to find the best deals ahead of the holiday season. From electronics to clothes, and toys, many waited in long lines before flooding the stores -- it's a bit of a tradition.
Some retailers opened early to lessen for crush. Like Friday, widely known as the biggest shopping day of the year. But Adobe Analytics says Americans will spend more than $6 billion dollars. They did last year on Black Friday and that doesn't include Cyber Monday.
And while you've got the big stores are cashing in -- a lot of them, others are fighting back in unusual ways. For a fifth year, for example, the outdoor retail store REI is closing its doors on Black Friday -- not cashing in.
The store's CEO, telling CNN how they're using the time to reconnect with the outdoors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC ARTZ, PRESIDENT, RECREATIONAL EQUIPMENT INCORPORATED: If you've been an employee and this is really the center of the journey that we're on. If you've been an employee working in retail for many years, you've never seen the light of day on Black Friday.
So, the opportunity here is to celebrate what we care about most which is the outdoors. But, as an employee, for you to finally be able to be outside with those that you care about, it's pretty profound. Over 300 organizations have now joined us on Black Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ARTZ: And we even have states. I think we have over a dozen states that have called in and said, you know what? We've been inspired by what you all are doing. We're opening our parks for free on Black Friday to join you in this movement.
So, I think, you know, what we've created here is an experience that people really value.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Good for him. All right, let's -- he says the closing of the store is also a way to kick start their movement to fight climate change as well.
Let's talk more about the weather. Derek Van Dam, joining us with the latest on that storm. Derek. DEREK VAN DAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL WEATHER ANCHOR: Michael, you don't want to get outside in four feet of snow, do you? I mean --
HOLMES: No, that would be silly.
VAN DAM: It depends on if you're a skier, I guess, right? But, people traveling home with full bellies today. You know, it's Friday in the U.S., Friday across the world in many locations. We had our Thanksgiving holiday. Now, people are traveling home from family and friends and they're going to be presented with a whole slew of problems in terms of travel issues regarding the weather.
We have what is known as a trough that's digging into the western U.S. and it's tapping into moisture from the Pacific Ocean, and it's overspreading a copious amount of precipitation in the form of snow, rain, rain-snow mix, as well as strong winds and even flash flooding.
But look at the states impacted by some sort of weather advisory. 20 million people, by the way, impacted by winter weather through the course of your Friday. But this thing is going to evolve into a major storm for the Midwest, the northern plains, and then eventually the East Coast. More of that in just a second.
Let's talk about what's happening today on Friday. Snows across the mountain west, showers continue for Los Angeles into San Francisco. But look at the evolution of the storm over the next 36 hours.
Starts to gain some strength over the central parts of the country. Mainly rain event from Chicago to Des Moines cold part of the storm system. Minneapolis, into Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that's where we'll start measuring snowfall in several inches.
And then, we start to focus our attention on the East Coast. We can actually track the potential travel delays from the Midwest and the Great Lakes. On Saturday, you can see Minneapolis to Chicago to the East Coast on Sunday.
So, we're rounding off the holiday weekend starting off the work week next week with major travel headaches across the major east coast cities, D.C., into New York, Philadelphia, as well as, Boston.
Look at the storm system. We've timed this out for you, so you know what to expect. Maybe you're traveling to the United States, maybe you have family and friends within these locations.
Again, mainly a rain event on Saturday for Chicago into Detroit. But as we head into the day on Sunday, this is when we'll start to see that rain-snow mix into New York City transitions to rain.
And then the backside of the storm system ushers in the cold arctic air from Canada and brings it back into snowfall. So, the potential here exists for several inches of snow for the major east coast cities.
Where that line actually sets up? Well, that will still be to determine because we still have a couple of days to iron out all the details. We know with these strong storms that form along the East Coast, it becomes a matter of miles or kilometers where the heaviest of snow sets up.
VAN DAM: So, Michael, we are waiting to find out exactly how this one is going to play out.
[02:55:18]
HOLMES: All right. You keep an eye and good to see my friend. Derek Van Dam, there.
VAN DAM: Thanks, same to you.
HOLMES: Well, one Pennsylvania man is reminding us what the Thanksgiving holiday is really all about -- friends and family. WNEP's Elizabeth Worthington shares how one community sprang into action when they found -- when they found out that the local veteran was spending every holiday, hello.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy Thanksgiving!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Thanksgiving!
ELIZABETH WORTHINGTON, REPORTER, WNEP-T.V.: A crowd of over 100 people mostly strangers gathered in Archbald on this rainy Thanksgiving morning just to wish one man a happy holiday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Thanksgiving.
CARL BRAUN, VETERAN, ARCHBALD, PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you very much, young lady.
WORTHINGTON: The night before Thanksgiving, our viewers heard a simple request during our Talkback 16 segment from a man who has spent his holidays alone for 15 years, and just wants someone to keep him company.
BRAUN: I don't want no food, how about some friends? 15 years I haven't had anybody to spend Thanksgiving with, my birthday, Christmas, New Year.
WORTHINGTON: That one phone call led hundreds of other viewers to reach out to us, asking how they could find this man. We were immediately flooded with phone calls and messages on social media. So, we gave him a call back.
BRAUN: A life what seriously thought it was a joke.
WORTHINGTON: Nope, we weren't messing around. We learned his name is Carl Braun. He's a 60-year-old disabled veteran who lives in Archbald. We put a call out on social media to meet at a park in the borough, so we could surprise him. Mission accomplished.
BRAUN: I just could not believe that many people did have open hearts that cared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) come. And we hope you enjoy them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Thanksgiving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's some cookies here. And my phone numbers in there if you like somebody to talk.
WORTHINGTON: Carl, went from having no plans and no one to spend the holiday with to having more invitations than he knew what to do with.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would like to invite you to our house, we live in Archbald. We're going to eat at 4:00, can we come and pick you up?
WORTHINGTON: He's already booked for Thanksgiving dinner and a Christmas Eve party.
BRAUN: Since been over 25 years since I've lost my mom. This is one of the first Thanksgiving as I can actually say, I'm having fun.
WORTHINGTON: Now, Carl has one more message he wants you to hear. Keep your heart open all year long not just around the holidays.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Elizabeth Worthington reporting there. Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, spending some of your day with me, and I'm Michael Holmes. More news coming up with Max Foster in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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