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Pelosi Calls for Articles of Impeachment; Iran Vows to Continue Ballistic Missile Program; Countdown to Crucial National Vote in U.K.; 'Black Friday' Headline in Italian Newspaper Prompts Outrage; Samoa Ramps Up Efforts to Curb Measles Outbreak; More Than a Hundred Fires Burn Across New South Wales. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 06, 2019 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Paula Newton. You' ae watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Studio Seven at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

[00:00:29]

Ahead this hour, Democrats insist it's about the U.S. Constitution, not about hating Donald Trump, as they take one big step towards impeaching their president.

Plus, Iran fires back after European powers claimed the country is breaking the rules with its missile program.

And a long-forgotten disease is, in fact, making a deadly comeback. And unproven conspiracy theories are a big reason why.

Articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump could be drawn up and approved by the end of next week. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave lawmakers a green light on Thursday, setting the stage for an epic showdown that's only happened twice before in U.S. history.

CNN's Phil Mattingly has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Today, I am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twelve words for history. Speaker Nancy Pelosi making clear President Trump is almost certainly on a path to be impeached by the House.

PELOSI: It's heartbreaking, but the president gave us no choice.

MATTINGLY: Sources tell CNN Democrats are considering articles including abuse of power, bribery, obstruction of Congress, and obstruction of justice, even as some Democrat sources say have told leaders they remain wary of expanding the scope beyond the Ukraine investigation, and into elements of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. Pelosi today refusing to get into internal deliberations.

PELOSI: My chairmen will be making recommendations.

MATTINGLY: But the timeline for a final vote coming more into view, as the House Judiciary Committee announced its next impeachment hearing for Monday. The committee could consider articles of impeachment as soon as the end of the week and final floor votes on the articles the week of December 16.

House Republicans continuing with complete unity to oppose each step of the process.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Today, with the speaker announcement, she has weakened this nation.

MATTINGLY: As their Senate counterparts met this week with the top White House lawyer to plan the president's defense, the actual structure of the Senate trial, though, still unknown.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It's impossible to answer your question right now.

MATTINGLY: Senate leaders plan to meet and try and hammer out a bipartisan road map forward. Their remains no guarantee one will come to fruition, leaving open the possibility that a White House push for live testimony from people like Hunter Biden and the whistleblower may be subject to a simple majority vote in a chamber where Republicans control 53 seats, something one Democratic senator told CNN would be like, quote, "rolling a hand grenade" into the chamber.

PELOSI: The House will be in order.

MATTINGLY: The kind of a schism that is already firmly underway in the House, as seen on live TV when, in a rare show of anger, Pelosi fired back at a reporter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you hate the president, Madam Speaker?

PELOSI: I don't hate anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Representative Cornyn said -- the reason I asked --

PELOSI: I was raised in a Catholic House. We don't hate anybody. Not anybody in the world. So don't accuse me --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not accuse you.

PELOSI: You did. You did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked a question.

MATTINGLY: Walking back to the microphone to make her point for all to hear.

PELOSI: As a Catholic, I resent your using the word "hate" in a sentence that addresses me. I don't hate anyone. I was raised in a way that is full -- a heart full of love, and always pray for the president. So don't mess with me when it comes to words like that.

MATTINGLY (on camera): It was an extraordinary moment that you just saw in that press conference, with one of the key questions about the speaker and her caucus are going to have to get their arms around over the course of the next couple of days, the actual scope and scale of those articles of impeachment.

Some are very well-known. Some related to Ukraine are pretty much understood to be coming, no matter what. The big question, though, is about an obstruction of justice article related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. Now Democrats are signaling that they will, in fact, include elements of that report into an article of impeachment on obstruction of justice. It's something some Democrats have cautioned against doing, Democrats who didn't come on board with the impeachment inquiry until it was explicitly and specifically about Ukraine.

Still, the negotiations are ongoing. They are very closely held. We'll just have to wait and see what they actually come up with.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[00:05:03]

NEWTON: Quite a day. Political analyst Michael Genovese joins us from Los Angeles. He's the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University and the author of "How Trump Governs."

Michael, it seems the Democrats, for one, have already made up their mind about that, right? Nancy Pelosi really set this up as an historic day. She wants this impeachment process to rise above the political fray. I mean, you saw how heated it got there.

Has she really been able to make the case to the American people? Are the Dems getting anywhere with that?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, for the most point, I think views have hardened. They haven't really changed very much. Democrats have dug their heels in. Republicans have dug their heels in, and it's almost as if both sides were immune from new information, new proposals, new ideas.

But Nancy Pelosi's position is, well, we've got to move, and we've got to move now. And the now is important, because the question is can you overturn a democratic election? Can you throw him out in midterm?

And the answer is twofold, I think. One is, the Constitution gives us a way to do this. It clearly gives us a legal means for taking a president down in the middle of his term if he abuses power.

The second reason, I think, is because -- let's face it -- if you let him go another year and wait till the next election, the president has more opportunities to do what he's been doing, which is trying to undermine the electoral -- electoral process.

And so, you know, the real question, then, becomes really, is it going to be broad or narrow. Do you include a lot in the pot of impeachment or do you just make it very narrow? That's a strategic question, but clearly, the Democrats are going to move.

NEWTON: And moving they are. Certainly, getting the president's back up here, he came back with quite a comeback on Twitter, anyway, saying, "Nancy Pelosi just had a nervous fit. She hates that we will soon have 182 great new judges, and sooo much more. Stock Market, employment records. She says she 'prays for the president.' I don't believe her, not even close."

In terms of that comeback, do you think this is getting under the skin, not just of the president but of Republicans?

GENOVESE: Well, I think you've got a position where the president is dumped out of the frying pan into the fire. The frying pan was NATO, where he was openly mocked and laughed at. Now, he comes back, and out of the frying pan, into the fire. The fire is impeachment.

And it's unnerved him, clearly, and it should. It's a hugely consequential move. If you are impeached, even if you are not convicted, the first sentence in the history books will always read, "Donald J. Trump," coma, "only the second president -- third president to be impeached." So it will be an albatross around your neck forever.

The president says we want to do it, and we want to move fast. His advisor Kellyanne Conway says, no, no, you can't rush.

You have to move. The Democrats, I think, their position is that we'd love to move slowly. We'd love to get more information. We'd love to get more testimony, but the president is preventing that. Because of that, we have to move now.

And so I think the Democrats should -- should take heed from something Napoleon said to his valet. He once said, Dress me slowly, as I am in a hurry. And so the Democrats need to move slowly, in a hurry.

NEWTON: It does take a lot of deft strategy there. And Nancy Pelosi believes she's found the right formula.

What's interesting here was something Phil Mattingly -- Mattingly was saying in his piece, right? Do we bring in, legally, the other issues that have to do with the Russian inquiry and the Mueller report?

I want you to listen to Nancy Pelosi. She was just on CNN on a town hall just moments ago, and what she had to say about including some of that prior evidence. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: We're -- we're operating collectively. It's not going to be somebody put something on the table. We have our own, shall we say, communication with each other.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: OK.

PELOSI: So I'm not going to answer -- with all due respect, I'm not going to answer one charge. We're not writing the articles of impeachment here tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You know, everyone remembers that, at the end of the day, the president and his allies said, look, Mueller said no collusion. And do you think that, if they start to bring in pieces of the Russia investigation, that it really will not make this a very clean process, that they will muddy the waters?

GENOVESE: Well, if they bring in collusion, it will mess things up. If we bring in obstruction, which is one of the things that Mueller had on his list, that could be very damning to the president.

So the question is do you go beyond the bribery case in the Ukraine? Do you go to obstruction of justice? Do you go to contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas? Do you go towards some of the lesser- known issues like the Emoluments Clause violations, or campaign law violations? They probably won't go to those, too.

[00:10:04]

They've got to narrow it down enough so that it's manageable and that people understand it. Bribery, obstruction of justice, contempt of Congress probably will be the three.

NEWTON: OK. We saw a very impassioned Nancy Pelosi there, and that press conference there today in that press conference. I want you to hear Stephen Colbert's take from "The Late Show." He has his own comeback on her, saying she doesn't hate anyone, being Catholic. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I don't hate anybody. I was raised in a Catholic House. We don't hate anybody.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS'S "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Well said. We Catholics don't hate anyone, OK? We are not allowed to. We don't hate anyone. That's why we waged 11 crusades, to remind those people how much we love them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Can't miss the irony dripping there in Stephen Colbert's speech.

The thing is here, though, really, to put a fine point on it, look, Nancy Pelosi was a politician that people said about a year ago she shouldn't be speaker. She's too old. Her time has passed. What do you think the Democrats are thinking now? GENOVESE: I think they're glad to have her. She's an established,

very effective politician, smart as a whip, tough as nails.

And I think, you know, the question that was asked was kind of snarky, and she was, I think -- it was righteous indignation. She does -- she is a very observant Catholic. She comes from that tradition, as I come from. Altar boy, Catholic school, grade school, high school, college.

And in that tradition, you hate the sin but you love the sinner. And so when she said, "I pray for Donald Trump," it's absolutely believable. It's very much within that tradition, the Catholic tradition that -- that says that everyone is capable of redemption and you pray that they will turn -- and become better, that we all are capable of becoming better.

But, again, don't mess with -- don't mess with Nancy Pelosi. She's tough.

NEWTON: She made that very clear, Michael, and I'm sure that the Republicans are still trying to figure out a way to get the better of her. Michael, thanks so much for your insights today. I appreciate it.

GENOVESE: Thank you, Paula.

NEWTON: Now the tension and anger flare on the streets of France as thousands of workers strike over President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the retirement system.

Now, some protests on Thursday turned violent, as you see there, with police deploying tear gas and shields to push back demonstrators.

Now, the walk-out has crippled France's transportation system. Ninety percent of trains and 20 percent of domestic flights have all been canceled. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower and nearly half of the schools were closed on Thursday.

President Macron is vowing to push ahead with the reforms, regardless. Some unions believe the strikes could carry on for weeks.

Now, mass protests have been raging in Iran, where Tehran acknowledges there have been deaths. But it really hasn't said how many. U.S. special representative for Iran says video evidence sent to the U.S. State Department indicates the toll is quite high.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN HOOK, U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR IRAN: And as the truth is trickling out of Iran, it appears the regime could have murdered over 1,000 Iranian citizens since the protests began. We cannot be certain, because the regime blocks information. Among those murdered are at least a dozen children, including 13- and 14-year-olds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, the demonstrations were sparked in November by hikes in gas prices and have turned into a broader anti-government movement.

Officials have cracked down on activists, clashing with protestors on the streets and restricting access to the Internet.

Now, Iran is also rejecting claims from European companies that it violated a U.N. resolution by developing nuclear-capable missiles. And that point about it being characterized as nuclear is important.

Iran's foreign minister dismissed the allegations from France, Germany and the U.K., calling it a desperate falsehood. Iran is vowing to continue its ballistic missile program, saying in a letter to the U.N. that it is consistent with international law and necessary for security.

Paul Carroll is the co-founder of the organization N Square, which works to reduce nuclear threats. He joins me now live from San Francisco.

You know, and where do we put that threat with Iran right now? These are very serious allegations being leveled at them right now, coming from Europe, right, the countries that wanted to remain in the nuclear deal with Iran, even though the U.S. pulled out.

And I have to point out, look, the United States had said that that ballistic missile program -- the Trump administration had said, that program was troubled, and that's why they believed that the nuclear plan, nuclear deal with Iran just wouldn't work.

PAUL CARROLL, CO-FOUNDER, N SQUARE: Well, thanks for having me, Paula. You're absolutely right. I mean, there's a whole witches' brew of issues going on here. We've got an authoritarian regime. No one doubts that. They sponsor terrorist activities. You know, they're -- they're disturbers in the region. Their goals, really, in the region is to be a player on the regional stage.

[00:15:04]

They have for decades had a missile program. That's no surprise. That's no news. In fact, I'm a bit puzzled as to why the European nations -- France, the U.K. and Germany -- who were part of the negotiations to achieve the nuclear agreement, are the ones who now, months after these tests that they point to, are claiming this is a nuclear-capable missile.

I mean, frankly, SpaceX has nuclear-capable missiles. If you have a space launch capability, you have a nuclear launch capability. It's provocative. I don't think it really helps anything by using that provocative term.

And let's keep in mind, it's only a nuclear-capable missile if you have a nuclear weapon to put on top of it. It's sort of like having a rifle but no bullets. The nuclear deal was ensuring that Iran had no nuclear weapons capability. That is now off the table.

So we're seeing a downward spiral, absolutely. This particular episode, this particular aspect with respect to a nuclear-capable missile, I'm not sure why now, and what the European powers are after.

NEWTON: Just before I move on here, I just want to get your take on it. Do you believe that it would be nuclear-capable or that, or even close to that? Are you saying that Europe is wrong about that in terms of where Iran's technology is right now?

CARROLL: I wouldn't say they're wrong. I mean, again, depending on how specific or technical you want to get, you know, UPS trucks aren't a nuclear-capable truck.

Whether the Iranians intend to develop missiles and then intend to put nuclear bombs on top of them, that is a completely different matter, than saying they have a missile that could potentially, if they wanted to, make it a nuclear-capable.

So the Europeans aren't technically wrong. I would say they're technically wrong that it violates the nuclear deal, because they weren't obligated, Iran was not obligated to seize any and all missile activity.

It would have been nice. And in fact, what the European powers are referring to is the resolution that formalized the nuclear agreement. They said we call on Iran to cease its missile activity. Well, that's not the same thing as an ironclad prohibition.

NEWTON: Yes, and in fact, that's exactly what the language says, so that's why Iran is shooting back on that from that U.N. resolution. It's giving, though, a lot of people in the region excuses to continually hype the rhetoric on Iran.

Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, just said the other day Iran's aggression is growing, but its empire is tottering. And I say let's make it totter even further, he says.

You know, he's injected this very aggressive rhetoric here for a reason, and some people will say that reason is about domestic Israeli politics.

But do you believe that Israel, with the blessing of the United States is getting ready to escalate matters when it comes to Iran?

CARROLL: I wouldn't want to speculate on that. I wouldn't be surprised if that is something in their -- in their deck of cards.

But I -- let me be clear. I don't want to diminish the importance or the significance of Iran's missile program. It is provocative. It is a problem. It's a security concern the U.S. and regional -- regional power share.

But I think this particular letter from the E.U. 3 is a bit of a distraction. The story you just had before this one was about the protests in Iran. Why are they protesting? They're protesting because, once the United States left the nuclear deal, it doubled down on sanctions. All of the sanctions and then some were placed back on Iran. Their economy is teetering because of those sanctions. And so I would

say to Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement, be careful what you wish. When you have a wounded animal trapped in a corner and then you start putting it with a stick, what's it going to do?

It's not going to cave and. It's not going to say, yes, you're right. And I think Iran is behaving exactly as that analogy alludes to.

I think we need to be very careful about the situation in Iran now. I don't think we should be clapping and cheering that their society seems to be on the brink.

I mean, I was 13 years old when the revolution happened in 1979 and that was fraught. That was terrible. I think the European leaders and, in fact, all of the six parties that were part of the Iran nuclear deal still have time to dial things back and to see what might be salvaged, not just with respect to the nuclear aspects but respect to some type of rapprochement with Iran.

NEWTON: Yes. And as you said, it will be interesting to see Iran's posture, especially given the protests and the trouble that they're having domestically at this moment.

Paul, thanks so much for this. Really appreciate it.

CARROLL: My pleasure.

NEWTON: Now, in less than a week, U.K. voters will be heading to the polls. Coming up, a look at where the campaign stand, ahead of that all-important general election.

Plus, outrage over this controversial front page. Take a look. While this sports newspaper is defending its headline. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:22:49]

NEWTON: OK, with less than one week to go until a highly-anticipated U.K. general election. Candidates aren't wasting any time, of, course, trying to get out that vote. Turn out is so important.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is standing by his promise to get Brexit done if his Conservative Party wins a majority while Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party is pledging to renegotiate that Brexit deal and overhaul the economy.

CNN's Nic Robertson has a look at where the polls stand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, a week from now, those ballots will be being counted, and the truth will come out about how many people voted Conservative, how many voted Labour.

Right now, it really is guesswork. The polls have Labour and Conservative about ten points apart. Labour was closing the gap last week, but that's where it is right now.

Boris Johnson, the leader of the Conservative Party, was out getting in front of the cameras again, reminding everyone, one week to go, a big push. He seems to have had a bounce in his step now that President Trump has left the country from the NATO meeting. Nothing went wrong for Boris Johnson from that.

There was worry that Boris Johnson would seem too close to the U.S. President, and that would count against him. But now he's pushing forward and talking about what he'll do in the first hundred days in office.

A Brexit budget in February. That Britain will leave the European Union on the 31st of January, the before Christmas eve there will be a vote on his Brexit deal in parliament. So, all of these things lining up and saying, let's get Brexit done, but of course, he is facing a counter argument where he says, actually you might do that first part of leaving the European Union on the 31st of January. That before Christmas, even, there will be a vote on his Brexit deal in Parliament.

So all of these things lining up and saying, let's get Brexit done.

But of course, he's facing a counter-argument, which says, look, actually, you might do that first part of leaving the European Union on the 31st off January, but that's not it done. That's the divorce part.

Then you've got to fix the future relationship, which could take much longer than the year time that is -- that is left to do that. So, that is where Boris Johnson is facing a lot of pushback on his message of, love to get Brexit done. Well, it's not that simple.

And the Labour Party, on the other hand, also challenging the Conservative Party, saying, they're going to be better for the country to take care of the health service. They're going to be better for the country in terms of education. They're promising a cap on class sizes. They're talking about free school meals. They're talking about a significant budget boost for Britain's National Health Service, as well.

[00:25:07]

The Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, are getting somewhat squeezed in the middle. They've seen their numbers drop over the past few weeks. And the Scottish National Party in Scotland, who were hoping to increase their take of those 59 seats in Scotland, they've got 35 right now. Their leader, Nichola Sturgeon, out in front of the crowds again today, pushing their message.

It is all to play for. One week to go, and they will be counting the votes in a week's time. And it will all be over, and we'll get to know who's going to be the next prime minister.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: An Italian sports newspaper is defending its Black Friday headline after receiving widespread criticism.

The Rome-based paper was highlighting two of Inter Milan and Roma's top players ahead of today's match. As Don Riddell reports, this comes at a time when European football has been criticized for how it handles racist incidents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Black Friday." It's not a sales promotion, and it's not an advert for some discounted goods. This is the headline in the Italian paper "Corriere dello Sport," topping a story about two black football players. And it has unleashed a furious backlash.

DARREN LEWIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I was staggered, actually, Don, because Italy has had so many problems for so long, and so it just seemed remarkable that they would shoot themselves in the foot with such a negative headline.

RIDDELL: Black Friday is an appalling own goal from a publication which says it was trying to celebrate the players Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling.

IVAN ZAZZARONI, EDITOR, "CORRIERE DELLO SPORT" (through translator): I would like to know what is racist in this headline, because this is a totally innocent play on words. It was used and instrumentalized without reading the subtitle, summary and article. On the first page, we say that Smalling and Lukaku are champions of anti-racism.

RIDDELL: Both Lukaku and Smalling are new to Italian football this season. They'll play each other on Friday when in Inter hosts Roma in Serie A.

In September, Lukaku was taunted at Cagliari by fans making monkey noises. Later that week, Smalling arrived in Italy and was asked about it.

CHRIS SMALLING, ROMA DEFENDER: Racism is unacceptable, and it shouldn't be stood for, but I think it's a world issue. And I think it happens all over the world. But it's very sad that it does happen in these modern times.

RIDDELL: In recent years, racism has been on the rise across the European continent, and Italy is often cited as one of the worst offenders.

In November, Brescia's Mario Balotelli kicked the ball at Verona's fans who were abusing him. Balotelli tried to leave the field, but he was encouraged to stay by players from both teams.

He's no stranger to racism in Italy, both casual and deliberate. In 2012, another sports newspaper, "Gazzetta dello Sport," depicted him as King Kong. In 2017, Sulley Muntari complained about racist abuse, and he was

booked for it. He left the field in protest and in disgust.

SULLEY MUNTARI, SOCCER PLAYER: I said I only feel that I'm really a tough guy on the field, but when it comes out of the field, I really get emotional sometimes. I'm human.

RIDDELL: Campaigners who want Italy to do better are disheartened when it's brushed under the rug or dismissed as something other than racism, but they are encouraged that this article was trying to highlight these players in a positive way. The casual racism in the headline, though, indicates just how much work still needs to be done.

Don Riddell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: The Pacific island nation of Samoa takes drastic action to stop a deadly measles outbreak. Why those red flags you see there flying outside people's homes could help save lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton, and here are your headlines.

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has instructed Democratic lawmakers to begin drafting articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump. Still unknown is whether the formal accusations will stick solely to the Ukraine scandal, or include elements from the Mueller report.

Now, the House Judiciary Committee could draft and approve the final document as early as the end of next week.

In France, mass protests erupted across the country, and thousands of workers are on strike over the government's plan to overhaul the pensions system. The walkout has already impacted public transportation in schools. It's unclear how long the protests will last, but some unions predict it will go on for weeks.

Samoa is in its second day of a nationwide shutdown to try and stop the spread of a deadly measles outbreak. Now, red flags are being used to mark unvaccinated households, as teams go door to door to try and deliver those all-important vaccines. At least 62 people have died from the outbreak in the Pacific island nation, most of them children.

Ivan Watson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Noelle (ph) was only one year old when a long-forgotten disease claimed her life.

ELSIE LOLESIO, DAUGHTER DIED OF MEASLES: She's gone, and I'll never forget her. We -- we had tried to -- to teach her how to talk.

WATSON: Noelle (ph) is buried next to her cousin, who died just three days earlier.

LOLESIO: It's very hard to lose a child.

WATSON: These two children are among the dozens of victims of a measles outbreak in the Pacific island nation of Samoa. Thousands of cases have been reported in recent weeks.

The government is ordering businesses to close and shutting down all but essential services as it implements a massive vaccination campaign.

TUILAEPA SAILELE MALIELEGAOI, SAMOAN PRIME MINISTER: We have declared two days of the holiday so that everybody stays at home. No car should be on the roads.

WATSON: Here, the red flags are a warning, hanging outside the homes of those who have not been vaccinated.

Measles vaccination rates in the country had dropped significantly before the outbreak began in October, and the government says it knows why.

MALIELEGAOI: We have so many anti-vaccine people.

WATSON: Samoa is not alone. Unproven conspiracy theories about the side effects of vaccination have contributed to a resurgence of measles around the world in both low- and high-income countries, including the United States.

The disease is highly contagious, but it is also preventable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one and done.

WATSON: Simple and nearly painless, vaccination against measles is as fast as medical procedures get. But for many in Somalia, it is simply too late.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[00:35:02]

NEWTON: Sheldon Yett, a representative of UNICEF Pacific, joins me now from the Samoan capitol of Apia. He is coming to us via Skype.

And thanks so much for being with us.

I mean, it's important there. Ivan really put the human suffering -- you know, he put it front and center for us, which is important, because people believe, well, OK, I didn't get the vaccine, but it will not happen to me. It will not happen to my family.

Can you characterize what's going on in Samoa right now and how critical the emergency is?

SHELDON YETT, REPRESENTATIVE, UNICEF PACIFIC: Yes. This is a very small country, a country of some 200,000 people, and of that 200,000 people, some 4,300 people have the disease. Some 63 children have died from it. As you might imagine, this has been absolutely devastating here. I don't think there is a community that hasn't been affected one way or the other. It's really driven home just how dangerous this -- this disease is.

NEWTON: And can you explain what had taken hold? I mean, I was surprised to learn that, also, even in Samoa, the so-called anti- vaxxers would just kind of basically make it known that the side effects were dangerous to children. Or is there, as well, working in tandem with that, an issue of public health and the distribution of the vaccines?

YETT: Well, I don't think it's an issue of distribution of the vaccines. There are plenty of vaccines here.

But it is an issue of confidence: confidence in the public health system, confidence in that safety of vaccines. As some listeners may know, some 18 months ago, two children died when the vaccine was being administered, and it was human error, not a problem with the vaccine. But of course, word spreads quickly in a community like this. And that has attributed to that.

And it's also, I think, an issue of complacency. It's been a long time since there's been a huge outbreak here, and many people didn't realize just how devastating it could be. They didn't bother to vaccinate their children.

And the issue, indeed, in confidence in vaccines itself, in immunization. As you rightly said, there are people who are spreading misinformation. Misinformation is killing children.

NEWTON: It definitely is, and we've the toll it's taken on a country like Samoa.

I want to just highlight, as well, that recently, in the last few days, the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said that in 2018, last year, they had a tremendous increase in cases of measles and the deaths associated, certainly, from having measles.

With you, you were there in the field, a healthcare professional. How quickly do you think people can get ahead of this now? You know, quite frankly, the consequences of not immunizing children is quite stark.

YETT: Yes. I mean, it's a simple, easy, and very, very effective and safe vaccine. And if you don't immunize your child, your child risks dying, unfortunately. NEWTON: But it's the -- just to interrupt, it's that pseudoscience

that seems to take over, though. In every corner and crevice, it seems to have caused problems, even in North America and in Europe.

YETT: Yes. Vaccine hesitancy, as it's called, is one of the top ten risks that the World Health Organization has identified. It's a tremendous problem. The number of deaths has doubled from 2017 to 2018 from measles. That's -- that's astounding. The number of cases keeps doubling there. That is not a good sign.

NEWTON: And you think just with more information, then, you think -- do you see it taking hold there in Samoa? Do you see, slowly over the next few days and weeks, that things are changing?

YETT: Well, I think the situation here has changed dramatically, and the last two days have been very, very successful. When you go out into the streets with vaccination teams -- I did that today -- I met many families and talked to many parents, and they're really feeling confident about it now. They saw the need to vaccinate their child, and that was good.

I spoke to mothers who had heard rumors before and now understand that, really, a vaccination is needed. This is why it's so important to strengthen the healthcare system, to strengthen immunization.

NEWTON: Sheldon, I'll have to leave it there, but we thank you, especially for being on the ground there and bringing us the story. Appreciate it.

Now sparks and embers fill the sky as firefighters battle dozens of blazes in Australia's New South Wales. Ahead, the latest conditions there.

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NEWTON: Firefighters in New South Wales are struggling to contain the flames as fire conditions worsen right across the Australian state. Now homes and communities are being threatened from more than 100 blazes. More than half of them aren't contained yet. Emergency warnings are in place for nine fires, which is Australia's highest level of bush fire alert.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us with more. And Derek, this is just a never-ending story this fire season.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it really is. And in a season where they should be preparing for the holidays, they're actually preparing for fires and the fire season that continues to choke the city of Sydney with smoke like this. This is an image coming from late November. But you can see it has been several weeks of poor air quality across this area.

Over 30 schools closed today just in a reference to the smoke and the bad quality of the air. And the potential exists for some of the local beaches to be closed through the course of the weekend, as well.

This is a popular tourist time of the year, considering we're leading up to the holidays.

A look at the smoke from the fires that are just outside of Sydney across New South Wales, allowing for that smoke to drift right into the city's center, where the most populated areas are. We still have sensitive groups feeling the impacts of this unhealthy air, as well.

Now, this is incredible. Some of the smoke has lofted into the air, up to 15 kilometers into the air. And some of the NASA satellites have actually seen some of this smoke traverse to the other side of the planet. So the aerosols from the smoke across New South Wales being detected across the Pacific Ocean, in South America. I mean, absolutely incredible.

But when we start compared it to other international cities, the air quality index, Sydney, current standing at 121. If you look at New Delhi, they're at 349, so they are, of course, a little bit more. The air quality there is severely worse than Sydney.

But you can see the forecast for Sydney improving as we head into Sunday, as winds change direction and we start to get some influence from the ocean waters there. So some relief in sight for the end of the weekend, Paula.

NEWTON: And that is good news, Derek. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

VAN DAM: OK.

NEWTON: And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. WORLD SPORT starts right after the break.

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