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Wuhan Virus Declared Global Health Emergency; Democrats Ask for One Week to Depose New Witnesses; U.K. Hours Away from Official Exit from the E.U.; Palestinians Reject Trump's Peace Plan; New U.N. Report: Five Million Children Displaced in Syria; Australian Firefighters Get Caught in Sudden Firestorm. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 31, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

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.

[00:00:13]

Ahead this hour, the Wuhan virus officially declared a global health emergency. The new warning comes as the number of confirmed cases continues to surge.

Another first for Donald Trump. It's looking likely his impeachment trial will be the first ever without witnesses, as Republicans fall in line with party leaders.

And the youngest victims of war. Death is not the only thing the children of Syria have to fear.

The World Health Organization has now declared the Wuhan coronavirus a global health emergency. The immediate impact is a warning from the U.S. State Department advising Americans not to travel to China. And for those who are there, leave.

Just last week, the WHO decided to hold off declaring the coronavirus a global emergency, saying then it appeared limited to China. But much has happened since last week. In fact, much has happened in the past 24 hours.

The number of confirmed cases up about 25 percent to nearly 10,000. In seven weeks from when the virus was first detected, 213 have died.

Global health experts are also concerned about transmission. The virus now spreading from person to person, including the first case in the United States.

And the number of patients outside of China? At least 125.

CNN's Steven Jiang covering the story for us, live this hour from Beijing.

So Steven, just on the issue of this declaration of a global emergency, and the case is coming not just from the United States but from other countries around the world. Italy, I think, has even closed its airspace to flights coming out of China. There is a big reaction right now. It seems China is becoming very isolated in the world.

What is the reaction there from Beijing? Is this a move they have welcomed?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: You know, the state media has reported this WHO decision quite extensively, as well, but of course, they were emphasizing the fact that, at this juncture, the WHO is recommending against travel and trade restrictions over China.

So the government here has also responded to this news, latest news out of the WHO, as well, with the foreign ministry spokeswoman saying, look, China has been implementing the most comprehensive and most stringent measures since the outbreak began, far exceeding its international obligations.

To this fact that from this moment onwards, China is expected to coordinate more closely with the rest of the world when it comes to its containment efforts, this spokeswoman said, Look, we have been doing this all along, saying that it's been transparent and responsible in terms of sharing information and data with the rest of the world and saying China's efforts actually have been praised and affirmed by the WHO's director general.

But still, if you look at the members, they are getting grimmer by the hour, not only the total but also the fact that it's now spread across the country with at least eight provinces reporting more than 200 cases.

And the focus right now, of course, for them is still the epicenter in Wuhan and surrounding areas, where they are still experiencing a severe shortage of medical supplies and resources. So that's going to be a challenge as the case numbers there, of course, keep rising very fast -- John.

VAUSE: There is also almost a backlash to -- around the world to Chinese citizens who may be traveling, or may be working in other countries. For example, there is a hashtag on Twitter out there, ChineseDontComeToJapan. In Singapore, there has been a petition which apparently thousands of people have signed, asking for Chinese nationals to either be quarantined or to leave the country.

This is kind of, I guess, something we didn't see in other viral outbreaks. And it seems to have happened very quickly.

JIANG: That's right. And to that end, naturally, specifically, over -- people from China, especially people from Wuhan or Hubei province stranded overseas. The Chinese government has announced they will be arranging to send charter flights overseas to pick up these stranded passengers and bring them home, actually.

But even within China, domestically, John, people from Wuhan and Hubei actually facing a lot of discrimination, if you will. They are being singled out in a lot of locations, being refused accommodation or service in a lot of locations. And this, of course, has been a problem the government has been trying to address, as well.

And then, of course, the challenge right now for them is this upcoming post-holiday travel crunch. As you know, the national holiday officially ends on Sunday. So a lot of people are expected to come home and start working on Monday.

[00:05:00]

They have a bit more leeway this year, because a lot of local governments have announced further delays in reopening businesses and schools within their jurisdiction. But still, this is China we're talking about. Even on a smaller scale, you will be having millions of people on the move. That's why you are seeing authorities really strengthening screening and other procedures at transportation hubs around the country -- John.

VAUSE: Yes, it's the escalation of everything involved in the Wuhan virus, I think, which is the most terrifying at this point.

And Steven, we appreciate you covering for us. Steven Jiang, live for us in Beijing.

And with us now from Wuhan is Justin Steece. He's an American teaching English in Wuhan, among those unable to leave China. He has a wife and a newborn child, as well.

So Justin, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Firstly, how are you guys coping? How are you doing, especially with a newborn?

JUSTIN STEECE, TEACHING ENGLISH IN WUHAN: Hello, nice to see you guys, too. It's going pretty interesting. We actually had a maid for the first month to help us with the newborn, because my wife had a C- section, so she couldn't really move for the first part of the month.

VAUSE: So but you're stuck indoors for what -- most of the day? Are you getting out and about? Are you able to interact with neighbors and friends? That kind of stuff?

STEECE: We're pretty much stuck indoors all day.

VAUSE: Not getting out at all? So it's like doors closed, windows closed, that's it?

STEECE: Yes, pretty much. Doors closed, windows closed. We have a little bit of sunlight coming through, and we do go out, or I go out, every once in a while to make sure -- if we need some sort of groceries or we need something for the baby, I have to go out for that.

VAUSE: Is that mandatory, or is it just sort of your personal decision to stay inside?

STEECE: It's kind of mandatory and kind of a personal decision. Nobody wants to be out right now, because the virus can get more and more effective, or infective over time.

VAUSE: And when you do venture out, on those rare occasions, it must be a ghost town at the moment.

STEECE: It's crazy. Wuhan is a city of 11 million people, which is larger than New York City. So imagine a five-lane highway on -- in New York City, usually backed up with traffic and nothing. Just pretty much quiet. You'll probably see 10, 15 cars in an entire day.

VAUSE: Wow. I mean, OK, so here's the current advisory coming from the U.S. State Department. Those currently in China should consider departing using commercial

means. The Department of State has ordered the departure of all non- emergency U.S. personnel and their family members from Wuhan. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in the Hubei province."

They also sent this evac flight out a couple of days ago. You and your family, I think you're hoping to get onto that plane? So what happened?

STEECE: Well, they sent out specific messages to certain private civilians, and they had to pay 1,000 dollars per seat, pretty much for their families.

But the issue with me and my wife fleeing is currently Ling doesn't have a U.S. visa. One of the main reasons what I came here over a year and a half ago was in order to help her get her visa.

Then we had our son, and she was unable to get that. And considering the lockdown, my son also, Collum (ph), also doesn't have his papers saying he's a U.S. citizen, or his passport, because of the lockdown. We weren't able to go and register him yet.

VAUSE: It just seems that there should be some kind of provision for that. You know, there will be another flight coming, I think, on February 3. They put out a notice saying you will be another reimbursable flight. I guess you've got to find another 1,000 bucks each if you want to get out of -- there's the announcement.

STEECE: Yes.

VAUSE: So that doesn't really solve the problem of the visa issue, but if you're being evacuated out of Wuhan into an isolated area for a couple of weeks, surely, that is the place where they could process your wife and child, right? Get those visas done?

STEECE: Yes. But the big problem with that is also the fact that, first off, you need to have a passport to leave any sort of country. And part of the problem with my Collum (ph), obviously, not having a passport, even though we've got his birth certificate and everything else, is we're not entirely sure whether the U.S. government will allow us to, and whether the Chinese government will allow it.

Because I actually contacted the State Department about this issue. I contacted -- first I contacted Beijing consulate. Beijing consulate said that it's a matter of the State Department, and they can't do anything about it. So I contacted the State Department. The State Department said it's a

matter for CBP, which is the Customs and Border Patrol. Customs and Border Patrol said it's a matter for the CDC, since they're taking most of the evacuation stuff. And the CDC said it's a matter for the consulate in Beijing. So one tells me one thing, and the other tells me another.

VAUSE: It's lucky you have a lot of time on your hands, I guess. That's the only sort of small consolation.

STEECE: Yes.

VAUSE: But it is -- it is an awful situation you're stuck in. I hope it is resolved as soon as possible, and you guys can get back to your life is normal and everything else, as well.

[00:10:09]

But thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your time.

STEECE: Yes.

VAUSE: It looks a lot less likely House Democrats will get the chance to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, meaning the whole thing could wrap up Friday night.

Less than an hour ago, Republican Lamar Alexander announced he would not support new testimony. He's one of four Republicans that Democrats have been trying to persuade.

Republican Susan Collins say she will vote in favor of calling witnesses. There's still an outside chance others may join her.

House Democrat Adam Schiff is pitching a plan for one week of witness depositions. He's also pushed back hard on the argument from Trump's lawyers that the president's conduct is not impeachable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): What we have seen over the last couple days is a descent into constitutional madness, because that way madness lies. If we are to accept the premise that a president essentially can do whatever he wants, engage in whatever quid pro quo he wants, that is an argument made of desperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: With us now from New York, Ross Garber, CNN legal analyst who teaches political investigations and impeachment law at Tulane Law School. And from Washington, Siraj Hashmi, a commentary writer and editor for "The Washington Examiner." Good to have you both with us.

SIRAJ HASHMI, COMMENTARY WRITER/EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Thank you for having me.

ROSS GARBER, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to be with you. VAUSE: OK. Any vote for witnesses will be a vote Democrats seem unlikely to win. And here's Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to explain kind of why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Yes, I'm increasingly optimistic that Republicans will move to a final verdict before Tuesday. The president will be acquitted in a bipartisan manner. We're not blocking anybody's witnesses. We're just not going to legitimize the House choosing not to call a witness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So Ross, first to you. We'll wait and see about that bipartisan acquittal. As for Graham's reasoning for why Republicans are not actually blocking witnesses, that seems to be a distinction without a difference.

GARBER: Yes. Well, look, I don't just teach about this stuff. I've actually worked on a bunch of impeachments. And this process has been weird from the beginning.

So what the Republicans are saying, and there's some merit to this, is that the House did an incomplete investigation and brought sort of the incomplete investigation to the Senate, and then wanted to have a long process in the Senate. And there -- and there is merit to that.

The Democrats are saying, but wait a minute, the Senate is supposed to be where the trial happens, and trials have witnesses. Trials have documents, and sometimes trials take a while. And in the past, Senate trials of impeachments have actually had witnesses and documents that have taken a while, and there is merit to that also.

This was just a very weird situation, and part of it was the fact that the rules were modeled on the Clinton impeachment rules, which actually were set up to not have witnesses.

VAUSE: And also, the whole process of getting to the Clinton impeachment was very different to the process of getting to the Trump impeachment.

But we've heard White House lawyers almost talking themselves into knots at times defending the president, coming up with different, you know, reasons for whatever. The latest is about motive, and can anyone really know what the president is thinking? What's in his state of mind?

Well, I guess one person would actually know what that would be, and that would be the president. So in theory, he could testify, right?

HASHMI: In theory, possibly. But he's also the defendant in this case. The likelihood of him actually testifying is pretty much in the negative. I mean, you will never see President Trump on the witness stand, testifying and possibly perjuring himself. Because if you remember, if you recall the Mueller investigation, one of the -- the points about not meeting or sitting down with Mueller, a lot of critics believed that Trump was going to either perjure himself or commit some level of obstruction of justice, just because Trump always sort of speaks off the cuff and, in a lot of roundabout ways that may not always be about the truth, but could be the truth in his mind.

So that's one of the issues he has. But with respect to the actual witnesses that were going to be called, Ross brings up a good point that the House managers did not really bring up a solid full case to the Senate, and they have the opportunity to call witnesses that they want to have called, say like John Bolton, for example, or Mick Mulvaney, and yet they didn't do that.

VAUSE: What's interesting, though, is that we're now hearing from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who says if there is an acquittal with no witnesses, she has this line that seems to be a preview of the Democrat talking point for the weeks ahead. Here she is.

[00:15:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): He will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don't have a trial, and you don't have a trial if you don't have witnesses and documentation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So in other words, Ross, without documentation, without witnesses, the trial is not credible. Therefore, the acquittal is not credible. Is that going to stand up with this president?

GARBER: This has been less about an impeachment removal proceeding than about sort of a political wrestling match. You know, the Republicans are saying that the impeachment isn't valid, because the rules weren't fair in the House; and then -- and then now Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, and the Democrats are going to say that the acquittal isn't valid, because the procedures weren't fair in the Senate.

I think this is a result of the fact that we are now headed full-on into a campaign season. Elections in November. And everybody knows that impeachment will be a topic that people are going to discuss headed into the election cycle.

VAUSE: And possibly with an eye on the election, if White House lawyers want a witness, they want Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden. And here's part of the reason why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Hunter Biden is paid $83,000 a month -- a month -- to sit on that board with no experience and energy, no experience in the Ukraine, doesn't speak the language. And we clearly know that he had a very fancy job description. And he did none of those things. He attended one or two board meanings, one in Monaco; and then he went on a fishing trip with Joe Biden's family in Norway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Also known as his family.

The reality is, Hunter Biden has no direct connection to the two articles of impeachment. Getting a high-paying job is not a crime. Neither is taking a fishing trip with your dad.

There is, you know, something to talk about here, though. Kids of administration officials getting high-paying careers off their moms' and dads' coattails. That's worth a discussion, but not for right now.

So what other reason will there be for Hunter Biden to testify? As opposed to, say, John Bolton, who has firsthand knowledge as to what the president was thinking over the whole, you know, Ukraine military aid for Joe Biden dirt scheme.

HASHMI: Well, actually, just to push back on that, because Hunter Biden actually is a pretty integral part to this impeachment trial and this impeachment process, because the reason why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought forward the impeachment inquiry and articles of impeachment was because President Trump, in the whistleblower complaint, wanted to have the Ukrainian government investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, because Hunter Biden had his board role on Burisma while Joe Biden was vice president.

So there is obviously -- President Trump, whether you believe the allegations or not that the Bidens are corrupt or whether President Trump was looking to secure that investigation for his own personal interests versus the natural interest, this is what really started it all, because Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma.

GARBER: Although -- although Democrats will say what may be important is what the president thought about that, not necessarily what Hunter Biden was doing or not doing.

The key issues, the president's intent in what he thought. So Hunter Biden, you know, isn't per se relevant.

Again, I think the main reason for the Hunter Biden piece of this is that it's a political tension, with the Republicans saying, All right. You want Bolton. If that's going to happen, we're going to get Hunter Biden, so don't go down that road.

HASHMI: I agree with you, Ross. I mean, it is a political process. And impeachment is inherently political. But doubly so because it's an election year.

VAUSE: Yes, and this whole witness sort of strategy, all this bargaining sort of comes down, you know, to this very famous line from a very famous movie. This one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN CONNERY, ACTOR: He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way. That's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ross, is that the administration way, too, when it comes to witnesses, you just up the ante?

GARBER: Well, I don't know about that. But I think it is to send a message that this isn't tiddlywinks. This is a very -- I mean, there's no more high-stakes situation in American politics than the potential impeachment and removal of a president. And I think the Republicans are sending that message to the Democrats that, if they're going to come for the president, they've got to come prepared. And there are going to be political ramifications.

VAUSE: Don't bring a gun to a knife fight or a knife to a gunfight, I think.

Well, Lamar Alexander, who was a, you know, potential swing Republican here on the issue of witnesses, he's now come out and said he will not be supporting a vote on witnesses in the impeachment trial. So clearly, it's looking increasingly unlikely. Nonetheless, the presidential was out campaigning. He was at a tire factory on Thursday. And he posed this rhetorical question to the crowd.

[00:20:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Remember the tax cut? It was the biggest tax cut in the history of our country, and what do they do? They impeach you. Explain, explain that one.

A very partisan situation. It's a disgrace -- it's frankly a disgrace to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Siraj, I leave it to you. Maybe you can explain to the president why the tax cut has got nothing to do with the impeachment.

HASHMI: Yes, I think President Trump in that regard is probably just ripping off the cuff as he usually does in trying to get some crowd reaction.

It's kind of hard to take President Trump literally but not seriously in this case. What we have to look at here, though, is because President Trump is -- you know, he's at these rallies. He wants to make a case that this whole thing has been one giant witch hunt, and the Democrats have sort of fumbled their way through this. They haven't brought a strong case that should convince the -- on a bipartisan note to get the vote to impeach President Trump. Sure, there are four Democrats who didn't vote with the Democratic

caucus in the House, but you're not going to get that in the Senate. I mean, Lamar Alexander is the nail in the coffin.

If you get, say, a Mitt Romney or Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to vote for witnesses, that gives you a 50/50 tie, which will be broken by the vice president, Mike Pence.

VAUSE: Well, that is a -- that is a question on this point. And at that we shall live it, because we are out of time. Maybe it will be Chief Justice John Roberts, who is in charge of these proceedings, as opposed to the vice president. We shall see.

Gives us a reason to watch, if nothing else. Ross and Siraj, thank you.

HASHMI: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, still to come, the U.S. president said his Mideast peace plan was a win-win. And seeing as there are win-winners, there are lose-losers, and that would be the Palestinians. Details in a moment.

Also, a new U.N. report reveals the staggering toll the Syrian conflict has taken on children. The disturbing finds when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: From just one referendum came two general elections, three prime ministers and three and a half years of postponed deadlines, tough negotiations, division and anger. But now in the coming hours, Britain will finally get its Brexit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DITA CHARANZOVA, VICE PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: For the last vote with our British colleagues, I would like to thank them for all their work in the European Parliament and to wish them all the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:25:12]

VAUSE: Eleven p.m. Friday night London time, the U.K. will officially no longer be part of the European Union. However, the really hard work, yes, the hard stuff is still to come.

The U.K. now enters a transitional period. By the end of the year, you will need to work out a new relationship with Europe.

But for now, just ceremonies. Hundreds marked the U.K.'s final hours in the E.U. in Brussels on Thursday night. This has been very hard for the European Union.

Donald Trump's Middle East plan would have been a huge win for the Palestinians if his earlier promises of doubling the Palestinian territories were actually true. Now the administration admits Palestinians have been told they'd have to give up about 30 percent of a claim on the West Bank.

Sam Kiley has been reporting across the territory and has the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A gloomy winter of Palestinian discontent made grimmer still by Donald Trump's new peace plan. It proposes that Jewish settlements like this with the red roofs on the West Bank, which the U.N. says are illegally built on conquered land, should be handed immediately to Israel, leaving neighboring Palestinians to work out their frustrations over their lost lands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is ours, and all the land there is ours. They're expanding more and more. This Trump plan legitimizes stealing off our land. Nothing makes sense. You see everything is getting worse, and we have no more air to breathe.

KILEY: For now, protests against the plan on the West Bank, which was captured by Israel in 1967, have been muted.

Leaving Ramallah and heading east where the Israelis plan to take ownership of a vast amount of the ancient landscape.

(on camera): In the next few days or weeks, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex the Jordan Valley and, indeed, the Jewish settlements on the West Bank. The Jordan Valley is a huge area of territory and extends from the Dead Sea down there, 80 to 90 miles right up to the edge of the Sea of Galilee.

But in it are significant Palestinian populations. Not least, Jericho.

(voice-over): This is the world's most ancient continuously habituated city, and it's carrying on while others plan its future. But there are dire warnings of dangers to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We as Palestinian people should go back to jihad. That should be our way of resistance. We should not be afraid of Trump or Netanyahu or anyone. We should go back to our old ways of fighting. No more useless peaceful negotiations, which didn't bring us any dignity or rights.

KILEY: For now, though, the Palestinian leadership has fallen back on old slogans to deal with a radical new plan which could strip them of huge swathes of land.

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): The world should understand the Palestinian people should deserve to live, and we are committed to negotiations based on the international legitimacy. We will fight with all of our abilities and peacefully resist.

KILEY: On the West Bank, though, resistance these days looks more like resignation. Sam Kiley, CNN, in Ramallah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Meantime, Israel's prime minister met with Russia's Vladimir Putin to discuss the Trump administration's peace plan. It overwhelmingly fails (ph) Israel, greenlighting the annexation of West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley. Benjamin Netanyahu sees it as a big win, the deal of the century. The opportunity of the century, he called it.

Putin, though, did not say anything about it, at least not in front of the cameras. So we don't know what he thinks.

A city of 11 million people, now a virtual ghost town at the height of the lunar new year holiday. We'll explain what life is like for those trapped in their homes by the coronavirus outbreak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:32]

VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

The U.S. Senate will vote in the coming day whether to call witnesses in Donald Trump's impeachment trial. Democrats, though, have lost one Republican who was on the fence. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says he does not need to hear anything more.

Democrats need four Republican votes to move forward with new testimony.

China now reports 10,000 people infected with coronavirus, a jump of about 25 percent from a day earlier. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency. That prompted the U.S. State Department to advise all Americans to avoid all travel to China.

More than 200 people in China have died from the virus since it first appeared about seven weeks ago.

The question is why has China imposed tough travel restrictions and enforced a lockdown on almost 60 million people in more than a dozen cities? Because it can. The extreme measures, Beijing says, are needed to contain the Wuhan virus.

Still, the imposed isolation is difficult at times. It's a harrowing experience for everyone, especially foreigners who are new to the country and far from home. Here's CNN David Culver.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A normally traffic jammed highway in Wuhan, near empty, only a few passing vehicles. Public transportation, shut down. City buses sit untouched. Only a few residents spotted outside. Eerie, for a city 11 million people call home.

Major food chains closing to customers: from Starbucks, to KFC, to McDonald's. Lights off inside.

This Wal-Mart open and crowded, shoppers wearing face masks inside and quickly buying up what's left, leaving bare produce stands behind.

Outside the lockdown zone, similar scenes across mainland China.

JENNA DAVIDSON, STUDENT: There's 24 million people in Shanghai, and I'm walking in the middle of the street.

CULVER: American college student Jenna Davidson arrived in Shanghai a few weeks ago for the spring semester.

DAVIDSON: You know, we got here before the outbreak, and it went south really quick.

CULVER: She says finding food in the massive city has gotten increasingly difficult.

DAVIDSON: They shut down our campus. We almost felt as if they didn't realize that we were still living on it, because we didn't even have, like, hot water for a few days. And the cafeterias on campus are closed, so we started realizing, well, we need food. And the stores within walking distance have been shut down. Or it's like a zombie land in there. Everyone's fighting for what's left on the shelves.

CULVER: Jenna initially tried to keep positive.

DAVIDSON: This is the guy who takes my temperature nine times a day.

CULVER: She even sent this photo to her dad, trying to reassure him.

DAVIDSON: For a while, I wasn't telling my dad everything, but he was finding out on the news just how bad it was. So it's been hard on him.

CULVER: She and her fellow classmates now booked on flights to get out. Destination: anywhere but here.

(on camera): Where are you going?

DAVIDSON: Africa.

CULVER: Who do you know in Africa?

DAVIDSON: I don't know anyone in Africa. And what's most stressful is even though we're leaving, I still don't feel like we're in the clear yet. Because it's -- what if we catch it in the taxi, or at the airport on the way home, on the plane? We still need to be very careful. It's not over yet.

[00:35:00]

CULVER: Back in Wuhan, social media shows how some residents keep moving inside their own homes, finding normalcy within the lockdown. But a look outside, and you're reminded life here is anything but normal.

David Culver, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The suffering of Syria's children is the focus of a new U.N. report which was released this week. Five million have been displaced in the conflict, with nine years of war robbing them of their childhoods.

But a report says children are not just at risk of being killed, maimed and displaced, but many have now been forced to fight, and subject to torture and sexual slavery.

CNN's Arwa Damon shows us that reality. But a warning here: some of the stories in her story are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The roads in Idlib are again gridlocked with the traffic of desperate souls. They join the hundreds of thousands already crammed against the Turkish border, as if that proximity could somehow provide salvation.

The makeshift camps are mud pits, where sewage mixes with the rainwater edging up against the tents. Eleven-year-old Mohammed fled after a barrel bomb took out half of his home. He and his siblings were covered in white dust, miraculously unhurt as the explosion spared the room they were hiding in.

He says if he had a magic wand, he would wish away the water, fix the camp, stop the regime advancing, and end the airstrikes.

Safety is but a relative concept. The comfort of four walls, cleanliness, it feels like a distant dream. Mohammed's grandmother, Hadija (ph), can barely find enough clean water to wash. She hasn't showered in over a month. The children are all getting sick. She's not entirely sure they will be safe here.

Regime forces backed by the Russians are taking over more rebel-held territory. The fear, the terror is not new. It is part of a cycle that is now serious reality, where parents don't know how to protect their children, and life is little more than getting through the hours.

In a ten-day time span this month, around 100 civilians were killed, a third of them children.

In this video, shot by the white helmets in the Aleppo countryside, a mother grimly picks through the dirt for the remains of her 14-year- old son, Mohammed. She cries out. There is no solace for this kind of pain, a pain felt by too many, snippets of it blurred together in countless videos that have emerged over the last nine years.

"May God not forgive you, Barshad (ph)," this woman cries out.

The rescue worker runs past her screaming, "Where are they? Get out! Get out quickly," he yells at the children, searching for the wounded.

A woman is carried out shouting. A child's corpse lies in the rubble.

The last rebel stronghold is being squeezed, suffocated by air and on the ground. The physical and emotional effect on children profound, yet unaddressed. Those who make it live in this filth, lucky by comparison. Even without proper shoes or shelter, they are at least, for now, alive.

Despite declarations of cease-fires in name only and condemnations, it continues like a macabre movie on repeat, stealing childhoods before they can even begin.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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VAUSE: The Trump administration is expected to make it easier for the U.S. military to use land mines, which they have not used in 30 years. The move would be a major rollback of an Obama administration policy, under which the U.S. largely adhered to a 160-nation agreement banning the use of mines.

Defense officials say the move would reverse restrictions that prevented the U.S. military from using land mines outside the Korean Peninsula. They say the ban increased the chances of U.S. personnel suffering casualties.

During her life, the late Princess Diana campaigned against land mines. The devices have killed more than 130,000 people in just the last few decades, mostly civilians.

Fire warnings have been posted for a number of areas in South Australia, as a severe heat wave and high winds threaten to reignite bush fires. Temperatures could hit the mid-forties, and officials are warning that could put pressure on electricity grids and trigger blackouts.

This comes as the state government in New South Wales launches an investigation into the response to this season's deadly bush fires. And they can spread fast. CNN's Lynda Kinkade has the story of a firefighting crew that found itself in the middle of a firestorm and caught it all on camera.

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a matter of minutes, a seemingly calm situation becomes perilous. Filmed on the dash cam of a fire truck on the New South Wales South Coast, firefighters can be seen getting into position.

Smoke billows in the background. Then a change in the wind. We see a fresh urgency from the fire crew as the sky blackens. The smoke gets thicker. The fire closes in.

Ninety seconds into the video, sparks and embers are raining down on the fire crew. Just 15 seconds later, the rural firefighters measure the wind speed at 100 kilometers an hour.

The fire crew said embers and spot fires were overtaking their position at this point. Just two minutes into the video, the fire is now spreading rapidly. Visibility has diminished to virtually zero.

Firefighters activate water sprays on their fire trucks to protect themselves and their equipment. Despite the terrifying conditions, the crew holds its position and continues to fight the blaze for nine minutes.

Amazingly, the crew eventually withdraws safely. The fire truck intact, they're unhurt, and they've saved the nearby property.

Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

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VAUSE: It's incredible.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. WORLD SPORT is after the break.

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