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Commercial Airline Crashes after Takeoff in Kazakhstan; Israel's Netanyahu Retains Likud Party Leadership; GOP Senator Breaks Ranks Over Impeachment Trial; Philippines: Death Toll from Storm Rises to 28; 737 Max's Return to the Skies Remains Uncertain; Thousands Flee Idlib as Artillery War & Air Strikes Intensify. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 27, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[00:00:20]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Studio 7 at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. And we start this hour with breaking news.

At least 9 people have been killed after a commercial airliner crashed during takeoff from Kazakhstan's Almaty International Airport. At this point, almost four hours since the crash, it's still unknown why the plane suddenly lost altitude and crashed into a two-story building not far from the runway.

The flight was operated by Bek Air and was headed for the capital of Nur-Sultan with 95 passengers and five crew on board.

To CNN's Moscow bureau and Nathan Hodge, who's standing by with more on this. So Nathan, at this point, what are the details that you're hearing from your end?

NATHAN HODGE, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: John, you're right, the details still are quite preliminary, but we're getting information that this was an -- this was an aircraft operated by Bek Air. This is a domestic carrier in the central Asian republic of -- of Kazakhstan. And the flight was going from Almaty, which is the largest country [SIC] -- largest city in the country, to the capital, Nur-Sultan.

According to a preliminary statement that came out from airport authorities, the plane began to lose altitude, again for reasons that are not yet known, shortly after takeoff and crashed through a concrete barrier and struck a building. The authorities said that there was no fire immediately following this crash. Initial reports say, again, that 9 have died. Ninety-five passengers were aboard the plane with five crew. The airplane is a Fokker. And we are still getting more information as emergency and first responders arrive on the scene, John.

VAUSE: OK, Nathan. We appreciate the update and, of course, as you get more details, I'm sure you'll bring them to us. Nathan Hodge there, live for us at CNN Moscow.

Jeffrey Thomas is the editor in chief at AirlineRatings.com. He is with us right now from Perth in western Australia.

Jeffrey, it's been a while. Thanks for being with us.

JEFFREY THOMAS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Look at the image -- if you look at the image of the crash zone, the fuselage appears to be almost intact. The tail section has broken away. So, too, the wings. I'm wondering if that supports the possibility that, you know, there was a mist at the airport at the time. It was cold. And maybe they combined to form ice on the wings -- There's some speculation out there -- which have would be an issue for the plane as it tried to gain altitude. How do you see it?

THOMAS: Look, indeed, that's a very good analysis of what are the possible causes of the -- the crash. We do know the aircraft reached a speed of about 175 miles per hour just on takeoff and then, seconds after takeoff, the speed dropped away quickly. There may have also been an engine issue, as well.

But certainly, the icing, it can be a serious problem for -- for an aircraft. The Fokker 100, a very rugged airplane built by the great Dutch company Fokker. This one about 23 years old, but still a very, very rugged airplane and has a very good service record.

VAUSE: I just want to talk with the Fokker 100. Because correct me if I'm wrong, they haven't made a Fokker 100 in more than 20 years, right? So does that raise questions of maintenance and age and that sort of stuff?

THOMAS: Look, it can do, absolutely. But look, the basic air frame to start off with was very rugged. I mean, the Fokker -- Fokker built very, very good airplanes and at a high degree of focus on structural integrity, which is why this airframe has not been broken up into more pieces.

However, of course, you're absolutely right, John. With the maintenance, the older they get, the more of a problem it becomes. And -- but, you know, having said that, a really well-maintained airplane can last 50 years. In fact NASA has a DC-8 that's 50 years old, and it's almost as good as the day it was built, because they love and care for it. So a lot depends on how much money is spent on the maintenance.

VAUSE: We just remind our viewers that this was in Kazakhstan --

THOMAS: Yes.

VAUSE: -- which, I think, suggests that there may be some issues there we don't know. But it's something which will be looked at.

You mentioned how the fuselage was mostly intact, which is important. The other thing that was important was that there was no fire. And is that one of the main reasons why this -- this death toll, which stands at 9 and could rise, but is relatively low at this point?

THOMAS: Look, indeed. The absence of a fire makes an enormous difference, and that's a major factor in the survivability of this, coupled with the strength of the fuselage, as well. And I'm surprised that a fire didn't break out. But that's probably because the wings -- the fuel tanks and the wings remained intact and didn't rupture. Again, a testament to the structure of the -- of the aircraft.

[00:05:05]

VAUSE: So at this point, we're 4 hours now since this accident happened. Where would the investigation be? What's their starting point here?

THOMAS: Look, the starting point obviously, the flight recorders, cockpit voice recorders. That would be the initial focus, absolutely. And then any telltale signs. I mean, in the case of an explosion or something like that or a terrorist thing. That would be obviously looking for telltale signs of that sort of thing.

But in this case, absolutely, the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder. And that will help them. And of course, the other thing, too, is we don't know who the casualties are. But it could well be the pilots themselves have survived this -- this crash, and then they'll have firsthand information almost instantaneously as to what -- what happened.

VAUSE: And Bek Air is a Kazakh airline. It hasn't been operating for, you know, a great number of years.

THOMAS: No.

VAUSE: It's a fairly new carrier. So what do we know about, you know, Bek Air in terms of its safety record and its history, the people who run it?

THOMAS: Look, it appears to be a good operation. They've got eight Fokker 100s. They bill themselves as a low-cost airline in the region. It seems to have a reasonably good record. And, you know, quite a good operation, by all accounts.

VAUSE: Jeffrey, thanks for being with us. We appreciate the analysis and the update, as always. Very valuable.

THOMAS: Thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you so much.

Well, for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was never really a question of if. No one, not even his rival Likud members would vote to oust King Bibi, as he's known. But rather, the much bigger question was always by how much? What would be his margin of victory?

In the end, it wasn't even close. Mr. Netanyahu called it a landslide. His defeated challenger, Gideon Sa'ar, pledged his loyalty to Bibi.

From Jerusalem here's CNN's Oren Liebermann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coming through with a resounding victory in the leadership contest for his Likud Party, the party he has led for more than a decade.

With final results counted within the party, Netanyahu came through with 72.5 percent of the vote. His rival, Gideon Sa'ar, a mere 27.5 percent of the vote. And that was the kind of margin of victory Netanyahu was looking for to ensure and to show that not only is he in charge of his own Likud Party, he is clearly the leader of Israel's right wing.

About an hour after polls closed, Netanyahu claimed victory, saying in a tweet, "Huge victory! I thank the Likud members for the trust, the support, and the love. With God's help and with your help, I will lead the Likud to a great victory in the coming election and will continue leading the state of Israel to unprecedented achievements."

A short time after that, as the results started coming in, rival Gideon Sa'ar conceded defeat, saying he would now back Netanyahu in the upcoming election in March.

Keep in mind here the challenges Netanyahu faced. He is very much an embattled prime minister, the 70-year-old longtime leader of Israel. He faces criminal indictment on charges of bribery and breach of trust in three separate corruption investigations. He has failed to form a government after two straight national elections. And early polls suggest that that may very well happen once again after March's election.

And yet, the Likud, a part of it is known for its institutional loyalty to its leaders. Very much stood right behind Benjamin Netanyahu in this race for the leadership of the Likud. It guarantees that Netanyahu will be the Likud's candidate for prime minister in March's election. And now the question is, how does that go, and what does Netanyahu have to play before then, to see if he can pull in more votes and secure a victory then to try to break Israel's political deadlock?

Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Oren, thank you for the update.

We'll take a short break here on CNN. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Back in about 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:11:27] VAUSE: Well, it was a win, a big win, but was it big enough? For more now on Netanyahu's leadership win, Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst for "The Jerusalem Post" joins us this hour from Jerusalem.

So Gil, 72 percent for Netanyahu; 28 percent for Sa'ar. Big enough to put down any further leadership challenges. Or, the fact it happened in the first place, and almost a third of the Likud wanted a new leader, is that a great big beacon to others that it's on, more challenges are on the way.

GIL HOFFMAN, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANALYST, "THE JERUSALEM POST": This is a very huge boost for Benjamin Netanyahu. He really proved that the party is him, and he is the party. And if he -- if we thought that this would weaken him on the way to a race for the Knesset that's happening on the 2nd of March, we were very wrong.

Netanyahu played it smart politically, did three or four rallies a day in cities across the country, met over the last two weeks alone with some 10,000 supporters all over. And that gave him a head start for the election that's coming up, while his opponent, Benny Gantz, has been quiet.

VAUSE: And this claim that others apart from Netanyahu are making that this is a leadership win, and it sets up for a big Likud win at the general election, but really, the reality doesn't seem to have changed. The world is as it was the day before, right? This seems almost like Netanyahu had everything to lose, but nothing to gain.

HOFFMAN: Well, he showed that he can participate in a democracy and not be a dictator, which had been one of the accusations against him. There hadn't been a real race for the Likud leadership in 14 years.

And he would've been hurt if Gideon Sa'ar, his opponent, would have attacked him in a mean kind of way, but he didn't. Sa'ar was very careful to not go below the belt, did not ever raise the criminal investigations against Netanyahu. But did say that it's too hard for him to form a government, that he had two chances and failed. And that was just reflecting reality.

So he's coming out of this as a knight who's been through one fight and is now ready for some more jousting without even a dent in his armor.

VAUSE: And to that point, if you look at the results from the first election, what, in April, the other one a couple months ago, and the vote for Likud declined from one election to the other. Is this leadership win by Netanyahu, is that going to change that vote, that turnout? Will he get a better result? I mean, that's the thing which I don't understand what's actually changed here to give him, you know, a higher return in March.

HOFFMAN: Well, the very fact that he was all over the country. The last two elections he ran entirely on social media. He learned from Bolsonaro that's a good way to do it. And that the right-wing leaders around the world: Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Bolsonaro. Netanyahu learned from each other the campaign tactics. Some of the leaders in Europe, as well. And this time Netanyahu decided to take it a different way.

Whenever you dominate the headlines in a positive way, that's good for a candidate. And this election now is, once again, going to be, to Bibi or not to Bibi? And even more so than before, all the other parties now have some catch-up to do as the election comes closer.

VAUSE: So essentially, what you're saying is that he's a much more better seasoned campaigner. He's got a bit of a head start in the general election, because he's already hit the road against this leadership challenge.

The reality is, though, that the Likud Party now heads into this general election, with a leader twice indicted who's twice failed to form a working government, and is pushing what is a very unpopular immunity law so that he can avoid possible jail time.

[00:15:04]

HOFFMAN: Three times indicted, and that will definitely be what Netanyahu's opponents are going to be highlighting between now and March 2.

But there's one more stronger card that they're going to play, which is that there are plenty of Likud voters who agree with Netanyahu on virtually all of his policies, who think that the criminal investigations against him are a witch hunt, who will not vote for him because they're afraid that he would step down, and that these cases will force Netanyahu to leave, and then we'd be stuck with having a fourth election, which is the last thing anybody in this country wants. Were sick and tired of politics over here.

VAUSE: Yes. Which says something, because the Israelis love politics. I mean, it's an amazing thing, they're finally exhausted by everything.

I just wonder about this leadership challenges. And the fact that it was so gentile, and it was so collegial, almost, in a way, and Sa'ar was sort of always respectful of Netanyahu, at one point saying he'd be a great president and he's back him for the presidency. It always seemed like the fix was in.

HOFFMAN: Look, this was never a serious race. What I wrote in the newspaper the other day was that Sa'ar is really running for crown prince of King Bibi. That if he would have achieved the 30 percent, then it would be clear that he would be the heir apparent.

He did not. He got 28 percent. That proved that Netanyahu is a head above everybody else. That's true within the Likud primary. That's also true within the Knesset as a whole. No one can compete with his political experience. Unless Jesus is going to come back between now and be our savior between now and the 2nd of March. And I don't think that's going to happen.

VAUSE: It's Israel. Anything can happen. Gil, thank you so much.

HOFFMAN: I don't know about that.

VAUSE: Appreciate it.

Well, since Donald Trump was impeached last week, he's made a lot of the fact that not one House Republican voted against him. But maybe the Senate isn't a sure bet. Just a handful of Republican defections there could spell a lot of trouble for the White House, and there are already signs that there is dissent within the ranks.

We get the latest now from CNN's Boris Sanchez in West Palm Beach, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As impeachment looms over President Trump's holiday vacation, one key GOP lawmaker is speaking out.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): -- means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense.

SANCHEZ: Senator Lisa Murkowski's openly criticizing the way Republicans are handling the impeachment process, specifically taking aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's close coordination with the White House.

MURKOWSKI: When I heard that, I was disturbed.

SANCHEZ: The moderate Republican senator is now a wildcard for McConnell, who can't lose more than three Republicans in order to keep control of the impeachment trial; and possibly a problem for the president after also admitting she remains undecided as on whether she would vote to remove Trump.

The image of a united party that the president frequently brags about --

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had 196 or so Republicans voting, 100 percent. We didn't lose one Republican vote in House.

SANCHEZ: -- now showing some cracks. Just hours after a Christmas Day call for Americans to exemplify Christ by fostering a culture of deeper understanding and respect, President Trump went on the attack, blasting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a barrage of tweets, again calling the speaker crazy and saying her district is "one of the worst anywhere in the U.S. when it comes to the homeless and crime. She has lost total control."

As Russia, China and Iran announce joint military exercises in the Indian Ocean, and the world awaits if North Korea ill make good on a threat of a Christmas gift, Trump is also accusing Democrats of hindering his foreign policy, tweeting, quote, "Despite all of the great success that our country has had over the last three years, it makes it much more difficult to deal with foreign leaders (and others) when I'm having to constantly defend myself against the Do Nothing Democrats and their bogus impeachment scam. Bad for USA!"

(on camera): Back to Senator Murkowski. The president is keenly aware of just how precarious the situation is in the Senate. It would be a surprise to see him lashing out against the Republican senator, suggesting that she is being disloyal. After all, President Trump knows that he needs every single vote he can get in the Senate to maintain control over an impeachment trial through Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Of course, the president has been aggressively courting Republicans lately, inviting them for weekly lunches at the White House and writing glowing reviews of their work on Twitter.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: At least two people were hurt Thursday when a large avalanche struck a ski resort in central Switzerland. After about six hours of searching, first responders were satisfied there were no more victims beneath the snow.

A total of six people were caught up in the avalanche. Two of them were flown to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. Four others were unharmed.

[00:20:05]

The Philippines is cleaning up and counting the cost from Typhoon Phanfone, which made landfall on Tuesday. The death toll stands at 28. Twelve people are still missing.

CNN meteorologist Tom Sater has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Fierce winds and pounding rain. A deadly typhoon battered the Philippines over the Christmas holiday.

Typhoon Phanfone, known locally as Typhoon Ursula, first made landfall in Eastern Samar province on Tuesday.

With sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour and gusts of 195, the storm had the strength of a Category 1 hurricane, then grew in strength to a Category 2 and left a trail of destruction, heavy rain, and storm surges that caused massive flooding.

Trees were toppled, power lines down; homes were destroyed, and more than 58,000 people had to be evacuated.

It was a nightmare for thousands of people traveling over Christmas, in the predominately Catholic country. Flights were canceled, and Kalibo International Airport sustained damage.

Even with the widespread power outages, area residents are now assessing the destruction. Some roads are blocked and school buildings damaged. Some stores and restaurants completely devastated.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis said a prayer for the country.

POPE FRANCIS, LEADER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): I join in the pain that affected the dear people of the Philippines because of the Typhoon Phanfone. I pray for the numerous victims, for the injured and for their families.

SATER: This typhoon followed a similar path as Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Haiyan was one of the most powerful storms on record, killing at least 6,000 people.

Tom Sater, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When regulators grounded the 737 Max worldwide back in March, Boeing and aviation experts believed the worst-case scenario would see the airliner out of service maybe for a few months. And cost the aerospace giant about $5 billion.

Now, nine months on, the Max is going nowhere. One of, if not the biggest crisis in the history of Boeing has cost the company more than $9 billion. Revenue and profits were way down in the third quarter, the CEO has been fired. And as this drags on, there are more and more revelations that Boeing appears to have known more, a lot more, about the problems with the 737 than it was willing to admit.

There seems no reason to believe at this point the crisis has hit bottom. It also seems reasonable to ask, will the 737 Max ever fly again?

Peter Goelz is a CNN aviation analyst and a former NTSB managing director, and he is with us now from Washington. Peter, it is -- well, it's nice to see you.

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Good to see you, John.

VAUSE: OK. Just looking at how this crisis has gone from bad to worse for Boeing, it seems the original worst-case scenario was the 737 would be back in the air January -- in the new year. That's the best case, and that doesn't seem likely.

It is the new revised worst-case scenario an indefinite grounding?

GOELZ: It is going to be grounded for the immediate future. I mean, people were very optimistic, and after the two accidents. And the idea that this was going to get back in the air sometime in 1919 [SIC] was unrealistic. I don't think it's going to get back in until the first six months of 2020. They have a lot of work to do, not only from the FAA and Boeing's perspective, but the FAA's relationship with the other regulatory authorities across the globe. VAUSE: And part of that sort of over-optimism that you talked about

was, you know, this time lag, if you like, between the two fatal crashes with the 737s and Boeing's bottom line, which has been impacted. Third-quarter profits were down more than 50 percent.

"The Washington Post" reported back in October, "Boeing's latest dismal financial results underscore how swiftly the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max has choked off the company's No. 1 line of business and how urgently Boeing needs the jet back in the air."

And obviously, that's not going to happen for a while. So do the issues here go beyond the revenues from sales of the 737 Max? Because there ultimately will be other, you know, big impacts on other areas of business for Boeing?

GOELZ: Well, you know, they've stopped their production line, but they haven't laid off any of the workers yet. So they've kind of half stopped the bleeding.

If this thing runs on for another 90 or 120 days, they're going to have to start laying off people. You know, the -- Boeing has about 150,000 employees worldwide. Commercial aviation is about 40 percent of those, and the 737 Max is the biggest player in their stable.

So, you know, they had 4,500 planes on order. If they don't get that plane back in the air sometime in the first quarter, if they don't have a promise to get it back in the air in the first quarter, they're going to take a very serious hit.

[00:25:12]

VAUSE: They'll take a serious hit, but ultimately, is Boeing too big to fail?

GOELZ: They are too big to fail. They will -- you know, they have 4,500 planes on order. Even if they lose some of those, there is a worldwide demand for a short and intermediate-range single-aisle planes that Airbus cannot meet. The Max will find a way to get in there.

But of course, the issue is whether they're going to rename it and re- brand it. And I think they probably will. It's -- there's a lot of hesitation on the consumer's part to get up in the plane. I think they're going to have to have a very aggressive and honest sales pitch to put this plane back into the green.

VAUSE: Really, this situation, the grounding of the Max, is at the nine-month point. The longest ever, I think, in the U.S. by a long shot. The other record holder was the Boeing 77 Dreamliner, out of service in 2013 for three months, and there were a couple of other ones there, as well.

You mentioned this. There's the 300 Max airlines which were in service around the world. They've been benched. Add to that the 400, maybe 450 which had been built since the grounding was announced. And now, you know, production has been suspended. Back in July, "Forbes" published these satellite photos of various

airfields where the planes have been parked. And part of the reporting here is "There were 60 planes in a section of Boeing Field as of Sunday" -- This is back in July -- "near the 737 factory in Renton, Washington, with some taking over employee parking spots." You know, a lot more 737s are now parked there.

Has there ever been a scenario like this in your time, where you've seen 700 planes, commercial airliners, just taken out of service and parked?

GOELZ: We have never seen anything like this, and -- and it really is a reflection of the arrogance that Boeing approached these two tragedies during the immediate weeks following them.

And you know, they have a heavy hand in Washington, and people knew that. And it certainly has not worked out. This is extraordinary that there is that many planes sitting on the tarmac. And to get each one of those planes back in the air, you're going to have to do a check. You're going to have to do a test flight. The FAA is going to have to look at them. That's not going to be an easy process.

As I say, I don't think we're going to see planes back in the air for probably six months.

VAUSE: Yes. It's an interesting point you make and a good one to finish on. Peter, thank you very much. Good to see you.

Peter Goelz for us in Washington. Thank you.

GOELZ: Thank you.

VAUSE: Up next on CNN NEWSROOM, a lost generation. School-age Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh banned from public schools, denied an education and a future. But not now, at least for a few fortunate ones. Details in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:25]

VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

Twelve people are now confirmed dead after a Bek Air flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Almaty Airport, International Airport. The Fokker-100 lost altitude and hit a two-story building not far from the runway. Ninety-five passengers and five crew were on board flying to the capital of Nur-Sultan.

Benjamin Netanyahu has scored a resounding win to stay on as the head of Israel's conservative Likud Party. The prime minister beat the challenger, Gideon Sa'ar, 72 percent to 27, in a vote by party members. Despite criminal indictments, Netanyahu now heads to the general election in March. In the Philippines, the death toll from Typhoon Phanfone stands at 28.

The storm made landfall on Tuesday, destroying homes and businesses, downing trees and power outages, leaving many areas without electricity. It also caused widespread travel disruptions over the busy Christmas holiday.

More than two years ago, Bangladesh did what no other country in the world was willing to do: give safe haven to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing state-sponsored genocide in neighboring Myanmar.

But authorities in Bangladesh have said the Rohingya will not be allowed to stay forever. It's becoming increasingly obvious they're wearing out their welcome.

For most of the last year, the U.N. has been negotiating the terms and conditions for repatriation of the Rohingya. But for now, the vast majority are refusing to return to Myanmar, refusing to give up the relative safety of the refugee camps.

The camps in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh, are among the biggest in the world. They're overcrowded and miserable. And to emphasize the point this is a short-term solution, the government of Bangladesh prohibits Rohingya children from attending local schools. While inside the camps, U.N. agencies and other aid groups are prevented from providing a government-accredited program. In other words, about 400,000 school-age children are being denied a formal education. The same kids who just over two years ago survived ethnic cleansing and lost almost everything they had.

According to a report from Human Rights Watch, "The barrier to schooling for Rohingya refugee children is not a lack of resources, but the government's policy of deliberate deprivation of education in pursuit of its efforts to prevent the refugees from integrating."

Even so, some children turn up every day in makeshift classrooms, where they're taught the basics. Officially, they're called learning centers, not schools, and they're teaching kids like these.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, hi. My name is Rashad (ph). Good-bye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, hi. My name is Anakasan (ph). Good-bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, hi. My name is Gora Rabi (ph). Bye-bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: To some of the kids who are now attending a learning center which was founded by Rajiv Uttamchanhani, joins us now here in the studio.

So welcome. It's nice to see you.

RAJIV UTTAMCHANHANI, FOUNDER, LEARNING CENTER FOR ROHINGYA MUSLIM CHILDREN: Thank you very much, John. Likewise.

VAUSE: We've been talking about this for almost two years now. That's when you first started.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Nearly two years ago, right.

VAUSE: So some of those kids who you started teaching, they've graduated, right?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes, they have.

VAUSE: So they got an education. At least they got an education. But there's this one girl you were telling me about.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Right.

VAUSE: She now speaks fluent English.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes, she does.

VAUSE: Which is amazing.

UTTAMCHANHANI: She does.

VAUSE: Which is great.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes.

VAUSE: But what will she do with that? What will these kids who are graduating, what are their opportunities? It's somewhat bittersweet, that they graduate, they have an education. Where do they go from there?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Well, the hope is that they actually get jobs in other learning centers or NGOs around.

VAUSE: Within the camps, though?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Within the camps itself. So they can be translators. They can help mentor other children in other schools. That's what we hope for these kids, for the most part. Because they're not allowed to go outside the camps.

VAUSE: So their world is confined to these camps.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Entirely so.

VAUSE: OK. The Bangladesh government has made it clear that, really, you know, time is coming up where they want them to leave. Which is understandable. It's a third-world country. It's struggling to look after its own population, as well. But what it means, though, is they're sort of taking the extreme steps of preventing you from teaching an accredited program.

And then on the other side of the equation, you have Myanmar, which has not given any indication if it will recognize the program which, you know, NGOs like yours or, you know, other charities or the U.N. are teaching these kids. So it's a one-two punch. So what happens to these kids now with their education? Where do they go? What do they do with it?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Well, the problem is again, as you said, rightfully so, the programs that we're teaching, as sophisticated as they can be, they're not accredited. So if one day, they go back to Myanmar, then that curriculum will not be recognized.

VAUSE: So they can't go to university, for example.

UTTAMCHANHANI: They can't go to university even after graduating from our program. So we don't have a long-term solution for that, because that's a political problem. That's within the confines of the government.

But what we want to try to do, at least, is that, if they stay in these camps for five years, ten years or 15 years, at least they get the basic education that we want to give them. At least they can speak and write English. At least they have some sort of job that they can do.

[00:35:05]

VAUSE: One of the issues right now is just simply a lack of space.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes.

VAUSE: Because these camps are so full. You set up with a capacity of for 400?

UTTAMCHANHANI: About -- yes, about 200 each. So we have two rotating shifts of students.

VAUSE: This is amazing. These are the kids who couldn't get in?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes, these are -- exactly right. These are the kids that -- this is while I was there myself. I was teaching our students. There was about 120 in that classroom at the same time. And these kids, there was no room to fit any other kids. They were outside just looking in.

VAUSE: How do you decide which kid gets in and which kid doesn't?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Well, it's just a vicinity thing. So we open up the enrollment whoever signs up, the first ones --

VAUSE: First come, first serve.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes, exactly.

VAUSE: That's got to be heartbreaking at times.

UTTAMCHANHANI: It's very heartbreaking.

VAUSE: The Bangladesh government has this time frame of, like, two years for repatriation.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Right.

VAUSE: Which kind of seems unrealistic.

UTTAMCHANHANI: It is. They're going to be there for a long time. It's clear that Myanmar does not want these refugee children, so they're going to be at the camps for a long time.

It behooves the government and any other entity to actually allow all of these NGOs to provide them with accredited education programs.

VAUSE: The amazing thing about this story -- we've done it a couple times -- is the power of a CNN story. Because what we did the last story, it actually was picked up by the royal family in Eswatini, which was in Swaziland.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Exactly right.

VAUSE: And they contacted you about doing some work for them.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes, they did.

VAUSE: So this is now kind of the interesting thing. They reached out to you, because they'd seen the story on the Rohingya, and they had a project, a proposal for you. It's a commercial proposal, but if it works, it could end up helping the kids in Cox's Bazar.

So explain what the deal is.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Yes. Basically, the kingdom of Eswatini is a developing nation, but they have a vision to become first-world in the near future. So when they saw what I was doing in the Rohingya camps, and the education systems that it was trying to provide these children, there was an opportunity there. Not only to improve, perhaps, basic education in Eswatini for underprivileged children, but to engage in commercial opportunities to expand their agricultural commerce.

VAUSE: And that's where you get the quinoa from? Right?

UTTAMCHANHANI: Exactly right. Exactly. So as you may be aware, quinoa is one of the highest demand grained demanded grains in the world.

VAUSE: There's a shortage.

UTTAMCHANHANI: There's a shortage.

VAUSE: People in California love it.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Exactly right. All the rich persons. They love these things.

VAUSE: Yes.

UTTAMCHANHANI: So it's a high-demand crop. It's -- the price is very high, as well.

VAUSE: Right.

UTTAMCHANHANI: And in Eswatini, that's one of the world's most biodiverse regions. Rich soils, rich everything. So we said why don't we introduce the quinoa crop into the kingdom, export it out, and then use the proceeds not only to benefit the kingdom of Eswatini, but then to fund our charity activities, for example, in the Rohingya camps.

VAUSE: Good luck.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Thank you very much.

VAUSE: Good to see you.

UTTAMCHANHANI: Nice to see you.

VAUSE: Cheers.

You're watching CNN. The news continues right after this.

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VAUSE: Welcome back. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accused authorities of essentially kidnapping an anti-Putin activist from his Moscow home and sending him to a remote military base in the Arctic Circle.

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Ruslan Shaveddinov worked at Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, which was raided by masked Russian security forces on Thursday. Shaveddinov is accused of dodging national military service. He claims a medical exemption, and the matter is currently being decided in court.

The navies of Iran, Russia and China will hold four days of military drills in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman. Those exercises are set to take place from now until Monday. A Chinese defense official says it's bringing its big guns, a guided missile destroyed nicknamed the Carrier Killer.

Iran says the purpose of the naval drills is to enhance security in one of the world's critical shipping lanes.

For hundreds of thousands of Syrians, the idea of a home and a warm bed just doesn't exist. They live their life on the move, hoping to outrun airstrikes and barrel bombs. Over the last week, the fighting in Idlib, Syria's last opposition-held territory, has intensified. And aid groups say they can't keep up with the growing humanitarian crisis, as Arwa Damon reports.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abu Samaya's (ph) children don't need an explanation anymore. They have done this so many times that the notion of a home, a warm bed to feel safe and snug, that ceased to exist long ago.

"We go, we come back," Abu Samaya (ph) says. "We don't know where to go or where we will end up."

It's an existence on the move, trying, praying that the bombs won't catch up to them or, when they do, that they will somehow survive.

But this time it feels different. The bombings more intense, final. Deliberate. Entire areas in and around Idlib province are emptying out again.

Upwards of 130,000 people are on the move.

"The children couldn't sleep through the night. They were crying every hour," Abu Osama (ph) says, holding his daughter. "So young. This is all she knows."

It's a cycle they all know well, one that starts with renewed intense bombings. Then, the panicked packing up. The overwhelming sense of feeling lost, not knowing where to go but having to flee. Finding some sort of makeshift shelter.

"I'm taking my family and we're heading to a tent," Ibrahim Aktar (ph) says. "Whether or not we can have a tent is still unknown."

The province, Syria's last rebel stronghold, has never been able to meet the humanitarian needs of the growing displaced population. One of the few aid organizations, the Turkish IHH, that operates in Idlib, says they don't have the resources.

"The first night we came, we slept on the ground. We didn't even have blankets," this woman says, begging for a tent, a stove, anything.

Many end up just establishing themselves along the road once they think they have reached safety. But as the regime, with the Russian backing, closes in, that may not be far enough.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. WORLD SPORT is next.

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