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Coronavirus Death Toll Rises, Surpassing SARS; Thai Shooting Rampage Suspect Dead; America's Choice 2020; Trump Fires Impeachment Witnesses; Virus Delays Adoption of Chinese Girl; Antarctica Hits Record High Temperature; 2020 Oscars; First Woman to Start Olympic Torch Relay. Aired 5-6a ET>
Aired February 09, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Life under quarantine: CNN speaks with cruise ship passengers in limbo as the coronavirus hits a tragic milestone.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): In Thailand, police kill a soldier accused of carrying out a deadly rampage. We'll hear from a survivor what happened there.
ALLEN (voice-over): And turning to the election, gaining momentum in New Hampshire ahead of the first U.S. election primary. We look at who leads and who is gaining ground.
HOWELL (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOWELL: 5:00 am on the U.S. East Coast.
We start with the coronavirus and six more cases have been confirmed aboard a quarantined cruise ship in Japan. This brings the total number of people taken off the Diamond Princess for treatment that brings it to a higher number.
ALLEN: A second cruise ship quarantined in Hong Kong has been given the all clear. Very good news for the people you see disembarking right there. All the passengers tested negative for the virus and were finally able to get off the ship Sunday. No further monitoring will be required for them.
HOWELL: Good news for them.
Again, the Diamond Princess, 70 people who were taken off, the total number there. This, again, this third ship, the Westerdam, in negotiations with two different ports for its passengers to get off. That ship has been stranded at sea after being turned away from several Asian ports.
ALLEN: Meantime, the overall death toll has risen to at least 813. That is more than the entire SARS outbreak of 2003. The World Health Organization is sending experts to China to study this new disease.
HOWELL: CNN is live in Japan, where Matt Rivers is on the story.
Matt, tell us more about what is happening there.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George, with those six new cases reported this afternoon, CNN overheard an announcement made by the captain of that ship, where he informed the passengers that remain onboard that there were those six new cases, as you mentioned, bringing the total number of people infected on that boat to 70.
Just further reason why Japanese officials and other countries are in agreement that the people that remain onboard, that haven't shown sickness or signs of illness yet, need to stay in quarantine because maybe not all the information is known yet. Still, what that has led to is a life, a day-to-day life of boredom and monotony and tension.
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RIVERS (voice-over): An early morning takeoff on a flight to see the Diamond Princess, the ship where dozens of people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Passengers on board under mandatory quarantine until February 19th.
The ship is actually returning to harbor. It was out of the harbor for about 24 hours to take care of some maintenance issues, including the production of fresh water. For the people on board it had the added effect of breaking up some of the monotony.
People below saw our helicopter flying around. Rose Yerex even shot this on her cell phone. We asked her and husband, Greg, to show us their cabin.
GREG YEREX, QUARANTINED PASSENGER: Small mini-fridge on the right, desk on the left. Swing around and there's Rose. And you can see there sure isn't much space in here.
ROSE YEREX, QUARANTINED PASSENGER: It's hard being stuck into a small room. But we are keeping ourselves occupied with all kinds of things, from watching movies and reading books.
RIVERS (voice-over): Breakfast dropped off at the door each morning. Yesterday they were allowed out on deck for an hour, masks on, at least two meters from others. It's all part of the quarantine. Health officials say it's the only way to stop the virus from spreading further. Some on board say it's like being in a cage.
MATTHEW SMITH, QUARANTINED PASSENGER: The time I really sense it is when the crew comes by and knocks on the door to hand you your food and then the doors close, as though somehow it's the feeding of the zoo animals. RIVERS (voice-over): Matthew Smith says he gets it, though, and
praises the action of the cruise company and the government. He feels the quarantine will work and is a good idea even though others onboard say they're afraid of catching the disease and have asked to get off.
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SMITH: I think they could avoid that fear if they were a little more rational. But I understand, it's a stressful situation for everybody.
RIVERS (voice-over): Despite some people wanting off, the Japanese government says no chance the quarantine will end before February 19th. Tests will continue. Anyone diagnosed will be taken off. And if you are not sick, prepare for your room to be disinfected and settle in.
R. YEREX: We are really looking forward to being able to get home.
RIVERS: As we watch this ship docking into the harbor, it's strange to think that the passengers on board will not be able to get off. They are so close to land and yet so far away from being able to be on it.
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RIVERS: There were some 428 Americans on board that cruise ship. We know some of them have called publicly for the U.S. State Department and even President Trump to get involved to get them off before that quarantine period ends.
However, the Japanese defense ministry said they talked to their counterparts in the American government and they're on board with the way the Japanese officials are handling this situation. They say the U.S. will not interfere to break that quarantine period.
So despite that, George and Natalie, it appears everyone on that ship who isn't sick and being taken off by health officials is going to remain on that ship until February 19th.
HOWELL: Which is certainly not great news for them, waiting to just get on with their lives. Matt Rivers live for us in Yokohama, Japan.
Four passengers from a cruise ship docked near New York City have been discharged from a hospital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they all tested negative for coronavirus.
ALLEN: But three of them were diagnosed with the flu. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more on when this cruise ship is rescheduled to leave.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Officials with that cruise line want to make sure they were not exposed to coronavirus and that's why they've rescheduled the departure to Monday with a short itinerary. When or if that ship goes out to sea, there will be additional health screening protocols and anyone who has traveled to or from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao in the last 15 days will be denied boarding.
And any guest that comes into contact with anyone who has traveled in that same region over that same amount of time. And most importantly here all holders of passports from China, Hong Kong or Macau will be denied boarding.
There will be mandatory specialized health screening for any guests who have come into contact with people who traveled to and from the affected region, as well as any guest who reports feeling unwell or showing flu-like symptoms.
This is the efforts of not just the Royal Caribbean cruise line but also Norwegian cruise lines who've announced the implementation of these additional measures as they try to keep the spread of coronavirus from happening in the United States -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
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ALLEN: We'll continue to bring you more updates on the virus as the stories and the developments are, of course, coming in very rapidly.
But right now we want to turn to Thailand to a shooting rampage that has shaken a nation. Shoppers at a mall there were confronted by a gunman Saturday. He took hostages and killed dozens of people before police shot him dead, capping an hours-long standoff.
HOWELL: He was well armed, a well-armed soldier upset over a dispute with a superior officer. Its still not clear what caused him to drive to the mall and to target civilians. Let's bring in CNN Kristie Lu Stout live.
What more are you learning about what happened from Thai authorities?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: We have learned that the gunman was heavily armed and had a machine gun and plenty of rounds of ammo and additional weapons and was a highly skilled shooter.
In fact, he won competitions. The Thai prime minister said it was a quarrel over a land dispute that started first at a military base and ended at a popular shopping center. He's accused of killing at least 26 people, injuring 57 others.
And after 12 hours, he was shot dead by police.
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STOUT (voice-over): Terrified shoppers run out of the mall as a calm day turned deadly in one of Thailand's largest cities. Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat city, is where a Thai soldier opened fire at Terminal 21 mall, killing at least 26 people.
Hours after the rampage began, images on social media showed people sprinting across the mall as heavily armed Thai police and military evacuated them.
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STOUT (voice-over): Jon Fielding, an English teacher, was inside the mall during the shooting.
JON FIELDING, TEACHER: I was just at the mall with a friend. Everything was completely normal. And then all of a sudden, everyone started running. Lots of shouting and panicking. And we immediately knew something was wrong.
And the immediate reaction is to kind of duck down and hide. And then everyone was running into the shops and restaurants and barricading the doors.
Luckily we were right next to a restaurant, so we went inside and shut the door. It's a huge mall, really busy, on a Saturday. There must have been thousands of people in the mall.
STOUT (voice-over): The tragic event unfolded in real time and security forces published images on social media, giving instructions for people trapped in the building to get out. Emergency workers livestreamed their rescue efforts as they were taking victims on stretchers out of the building.
ANUTIN CHARNVIRAKUL, THAI PUBLIC HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): We have been trying to bring out whoever we can. And we will gradually save others who are still stuck inside.
STOUT (voice-over): Thailand's defense ministry spokesman said the suspect, Army Sub. Lt. Jakrapanth Thomma, shot and killed his superior, then went around shooting his colleagues. After he escaped from his quarters he drove to the mall and started shooting civilians.
He added, the gunmen's motive is still unknown. Facebook said in a statement it had removed the suspected gunman's page, although there was no evidence of violent videos.
"We are working around the clock to remove any violating content related to this attack," the statement said. "Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and the community affected by this tragedy in Thailand."
The saga ended on Sunday when authorities confirmed the gunman was shot dead by police.
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STOUT: We also learned from Thai officials that the gunman's mother was brought in to try to get him to negotiate and stand down. We also learned the suspect was holding hostages leading to that fateful decision by police to shoot him dead after a 12-hour standoff -- George.
HOWELL: Kristie Lu Stout, live on the story, thank you. ALLEN: Coming up, election 2020 presidential hopefuls looking to gain
extra momentum in New Hampshire and wasting no time to take some jabs at one another as it gets a little more contentious out there. We'll tell you the heat Pete Buttigieg is taking as he climbs the polls.
HOWELL: Plus days after the U.S. president was acquitted, he fired a key witness in the impeachment inquiry. The pushback now coming from his own party.
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ALLEN: All right. Vote counting is underway in Ireland's general election and exit polls are showing just how tight the result could be. The incumbent party, Fine Gael, the Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, and the center right Fianna Fail each have a little more than 22 percent support.
Voters are electing 159 members of the lower house of parliament. We'll tell you how that one turns out.
HOWELL: Only two days to go now until the New Hampshire. Voters there will get their first chance to go to the polls in the first U.S. primary election.
ALLEN: And a new CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire shows Senator Bernie Sanders holding a narrow lead over his top rival. Sanders standing with 28 percent support from likely Democratic primary voters.
HOWELL: But Pete Buttigieg is quickly gaining ground. He comes in with 21 percent, followed by Joe Biden and senator Elizabeth Warren.
ALLEN: In an attempt to sway last-minute voters, Saturday night several Democratic candidates spoke at the New Hampshire Democratic Party 100 Club dinner.
HOWELL: Despite their differences, they spoke about uniting the party and taking on the U.S. president. However, Pete Buttigieg was met with harsh criticism from the crowd when he appeared to take a swipe at Bernie Sanders.
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PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), MAYOR OF SOUTH BEND, IND., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With a president this divisive, we cannot risk dividing Americans' future further, saying that you must either be for a revolution or you must be for the status quo. Let's make room for everybody in this movement.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: Well, before that event, former Vice President Joe Biden set his sights on Buttigieg, responding to a question from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You served for a president who was criticized in this very way. Hillary Clinton said, Barack Obama, you don't have the experience to be president. He went on to become president.
Is this a act of desperation on your campaign to be making this --
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, come on, man, you think --
ZELENY: -- right now?
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BIDEN: This guy's not a Barack Obama. Barack Obama had been a United States senator of a really large state. He laid out a clear vision what the international society should look like and what the order should be. Barack Obama had laid out in detail what he thought should happen with regard to the economy.
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ALLEN: Let's talk about the developments in New Hampshire with Inderjeet Parmar, professor of international politics at City University of London and also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.
Always good to have you on.
INDERJEET PARMAR, CITY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Good to be here.
ALLEN: Let's talk about New Hampshire.
Did you, could you have guessed that Sanders and Buttigieg would be at the top of the polls there?
PARMAR: It is interesting, isn't it, the way which everybody is sort of realigning and it looks like Biden is losing out to Buttigieg. And Elizabeth Warren, who was slated to be doing much better, appears to be losing out to Bernie Sanders. So it looks like a big struggle, an epic struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party.
What does it stand for and where is it heading?
I think it is squaring to be a very big year in Democratic Party politics but also in American politics more generally.
ALLEN: That has been the big question. You have your progressives and your moderates and it appeared Iowa, you know, talked about having moderates and, you know, it's still kind of up in the air, who's coming out ahead there.
Let's talk about Joe Biden, who came in kind of a disaster with fourth in Iowa and now you see him pushing back. Buttigieg vying for the lead. Biden doesn't normally go on personal attacks. But we heard him say, this guy is not Barack Obama.
What did you think of Biden's strategy here?
PARMAR: Biden has only one strategy left now really.
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PARMAR: And he has to claw back the votes he lost but I think Joe Biden will go on the attack a lot more because the target is much clearer for his way forward and that is Pete Buttigieg.
It looks like Buttigieg has taken off the mantle of the moderates, the kind of right or centrist Democrats and claimed he is the only one that can beat President Trump in November.
I think Joe Biden has got to do that. Unfortunately, he is stepped in a history where he is heavily compromised on a number of issues, segregationist in the 1970s, the Hyde amendment on abortion, Anita Hill, Iraq War and so on. It'll be very difficult for him to be able to claw that back, I think.
ALLEN: And what about Sanders?
He is appealing to younger voters, according to the polls. What is this 78-year old candidate saying to younger Americans, do you think?
PARMAR: How interesting is that?
Joe Biden in his 70s, too, but going in a different direction as in downwards but Bernie Sanders, who is older than Joe Biden, is basically winning the young and among workers, as well. And I think in a way the past plays different roles.
For Sanders, the past is that he stood for women's rights, for civil rights, for young people and against war and militarism for many decades. He's seen as someone who has not compromised his positions and principles. And he is offering them a brighter future and he's tapped into a wave of a drift or sentiment of socialism or conviction towards socialism, which is quite surprising but very interesting.
Where Joe Biden, I think, is still steeped in that older politics. So Bernie Sanders seems to be offering that future. So it looks like there is a kind of big struggle between the past and present on a number of fronts and between a kind of vision that President Trump offers and the vision that Bernie Sanders offers.
And I think it is squaring up to be an epic year up to November in this country's politics.
ALLEN: Well, let's talk about Klobuchar. She had a very strong debate in New Hampshire, picking up some momentum there. But Warren, as you mentioned, falling back.
PARMAR: Well, she's raised $t2 million in a very, very short space of time since the debate.
ALLEN: Klobuchar.
PARMAR: Correct. But she has not been able to do too much on the campaign trail itself.
So she seems to be having good debating skills but not so great in terms of wowing the crowds and so on. I think she stands for the right of the party and very much into the big money politics and I think she's probably going to be around for a while.
But I'm not sure she can really kind of, if you like, when this divide is coming, this big divide within the party is coming, whether she has enough distinctiveness to offer the party an alternative to Buttigieg or to Biden, actually.
ALLEN: We always appreciate you coming on and your perspectives. We'll talk with you, again, thank you, Inderjeet.
PARMAR: Thank you very much.
HOWELL: Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg will be joining Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION." You can watch that 9:00 am Atlanta and 2:00 pm London right here on CNN.
Sources tell CNN that a handful of Republican senators tried to stop firing U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. The senators warned it may look bad for Mr. Trump to not let him leave on his own terms.
ALLEN: The same day, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert at the National Security Council, also fired by Mr. Trump and both were key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is clearly a president who has been empowered by his acquittal. For months we saw the president angry on Twitter, lashing out at Democrats the, impeachment process and those witnesses.
And now it seems like we are in a new phrase, that is acting out on that discontent. Of course, firing those two prominent witnesses within the impeachment inquiry, Lt. Col. Vindman getting escorted off the property here at the White House.
And I want to read a statement from Vindman's attorney, which says, "Lt. Col. Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right frightened the powerful. Truth is not partisan. If we allow truthful voices to be silenced, if we ignore their warnings, eventually there will be no one left to warn us." I want to note something here. Vindman was not the only person fired.
His twin brother, who also was a lawyer at the National Security Council, was fired yesterday. And on top of that, he had he had nothing to do with the impeachment.
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HOLMES: He was simply related to Colonel Vindman.
So Trump is sending a very serious message that says if you cross me or I perceive you have, you will be punished. And it's not just these big firings. We are also hearing that as early as next week the national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, will begin cutting jobs at the National Security Council.
Why is that important?
President Trump has long suspected that those damaging leaks were coming from the National Security Council, from these career employees who he believed did not have his best interests at heart. So it certainly seems like the White House is cleaning house -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Next, multiple U.S. troops are dead after a shootout in Afghanistan. We'll go live to Kabul for the latest on what happened there.
HOWELL: Plus travel restrictions due to the coronavirus mean one family's dream of adopting a young girl from China. That dream will have to be put on hold.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and all around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
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HOWELL: A U.S. family has spent the past two years preparing to adopt a small girl from China. She was abandoned when she was just six months old and had no family.
ALLEN: But just as the parents were about to head to China to bring their new daughter home, the virus ruined those plans, at least for now. Natasha Chen has their story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the child comes out and --
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Noah and Ivy Cleveland were supposed to be on a flight to China Friday night to pick up their adopted daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had this made for her to wear on her adoption day.
CHEN: Instead, they and their two sons spent Friday evening showing us the baby room. They spent months preparing for 3-year-old Ruby Faith's homecoming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we also like is dogs right here and --
CHEN: The Clevelands spent two years and an often unpredictable adoption process. They finally got the certainty of booked plane tickets, hotel rooms, only to have their adoption agency tell them less than two weeks before meeting their daughter that plans were on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak. This was just days before the U.S. announced restrictions on people traveling from China.
IVY CLEVELAND, ADOPTIVE MOTHER: This was the first time in my life that actually went to the point of being sick in my body. I just laid over her bed, over her crib that I had, you know, prepared for her and look at that, the pictures on the wall and her clothes in her closet. And just understanding that this is not happening right now.
CHEN: The State Department says adoption cases are still being processed, though the advised adoptive parents not to travel to China for the time being.
I. CLEVELAND: Our two boys were staying here. And so I had six different babysitters line that they care for them for the 14 days who would be gone.
NOAH CLEVELAND, ADOPTIVE FATHER: These are our suitcase all over the countries we've traveled --
CHEN: And because plans in this house often involve Noah Cleveland's out of town tours performing Christian music, the sudden change in logistics is also costly. More importantly, it's stretching their faith.
N. CLEVELAND: I know by my story and my life that I did -- there's many things I signed up to go through. But at the end, the way that God works it out I would never trade it. And I know this is just a part of our story. It's part of Ruby story and how incredible will it be to be able to tell her, look what -- look what -- look what we did to fight for you.
CHEN: What they did to fight for a girl who they say was abandoned in a hospital bathroom when she was six months old. A girl who's diagnosed with hydrocephalus. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In that he built this sign.
CHEN: A girl whose new middle name is Faith, the very thing her family is relying on right now.
If you could say something to her that she would understand right now, what would you want her to know from you?
N. CLEVELAND: Mama and Daddy is coming. Just wait, we'll be there soon.
CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, McDonough, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: We'll have to look at following up on that story when they do get their daughter to her new home.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this look at the priorities for health officials as they try to contain the virus.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What public health officials are focusing on the most are two things. Let me show you this box.
Look at the X access there that is how lethal this virus is and the Y access is how transmissible. What you want to avoid, what you hope not to have happen, is that this ends up in the D box, where it's both highly transmissible and highly lethal.
Right now, thankfully, this new coronavirus seems to be more in the A box. It's a wide range. We still don't know exactly how contagious this is and we don't know how lethal.
But it's looking like this may end up feeling more like a bad cold or flu versus a lethal pandemic that spreads throughout the world. These are questions that still need to be answered.
One more thing I just want to point out, a lot of discussion about these masks and other types of personal protective equipment. The demand for these types of masks has gone up 100 times. The price has gone up 20 times.
Outside of health care settings, outside of that province in China, there's probably not a real role for these masks.
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GUPTA: I mean if you look at it, you probably wouldn't be surprised to know that viral particles can maybe even go through the mask. They can certainly come around the edges.
So for the most part, they're really not going to provide much benefit and maybe a reminder to avoid people who are sick or to not touch their own nose or mouth.
But the best advice is to do the same things you would do to avoid the flu, stay away from sick people. Wash your hands as much as possible. Don't touch your face as much as you can as well.
So hope that helps and a lot of news coming in as we get new information and we'll certainly bring it to you.
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HOWELL: You can never just wash your hands enough, really good, basic advice here.
ALLEN: And no one realizes how much they touch their face. Always doing that. Something else to try to think about.
HOWELL: Absolutely.
Another story that we're following. At least two U.S. troops are dead and six more wounded after a firefight in Eastern Afghanistan.
ALLEN: Reports indicate someone wearing an Afghan uniform opened fire on U.S. and Afghan forces with a machine gun, that according to the U.S. military. Last year saw a record high number of attacks by the Taliban and other groups. There are up to 13,000 U.S. troops still serving in Afghanistan.
HOWELL: Live in Kabul this morning we have journalist Jennifer Glasse, reporting on what happened there.
Tell us more on what you learned.
JENNIFER GLASSE, JOURNALIST: The U.S. and Afghan officials are investigating this incident which happened in Eastern Afghanistan on Saturday night.
We understand that U.S. Special Forces from the 7th Special Forces Group Airborne along with Afghan forces were just finishing what they call a key engagement meeting when this person in a military uniform opened fire with a machine gun, killing two Americans, wounding six.
One Afghan soldier was also killed and three others injured in this incident. The Americans say they are not sure what the cause or the motive of this incident is and they're looking into it.
HOWELL: We know that reports of the shooter, that he had an Afghan uniform but, again, that doesn't exactly mean that the gunman was an Afghan soldier. This goes to the question of trust, these insider attacks that we've seen in the past. The insider attacks that have killed so many people.
GLASSE: That's right, George. This was a really big problem. 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 when there were many more American and NATO forces in the country.
In 2012, 15 percent of all coalition deaths were because of these insider attacks, where people inside, in Afghan army uniforms and security forces uniforms, turn their weapons on American and coalition forces.
The problem has subsided a bit but we saw two American deaths last year from an insider attack and a number of injuries from a different insider attack. This, we're not exactly sure, as you said, whether the shooter was actually an Afghanistan soldier or whether he was in a stolen military uniform.
But either way it goes to the question, how can these American forces work alongside these Afghan forces with any degree of trust when you have these attacks happening?
HOWELL: It goes deeper into the question of security at the same time. ISIS and Taliban still quite active in that part of the world. Jennifer Glasse with the reporting, thank you.
ALLEN: Next here, Australia has seen so much heat, so much fire and now this, a cyclone.
HOWELL: Plus record high temperatures at one of the coldest places on Earth. Find out why scientists are worried.
Could it be global warming?
Yes.
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HOWELL: Parts of Australia are getting soaked with wet weather. New South Wales is getting some of the heaviest rainfall in nearly 20 years.
ALLEN: The area was under severe weather and flash flood warnings. Officials hope the downpours will help contain some of the more than 35 active bushfires still burning. Fires, flooding and now a tropical cyclone.
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ALLEN: Well, now we want to turn to a disturbing development in Antarctica. This last Thursday the continent reached its highest temperature ever recorded, 65 degrees Fahrenheit. That's over 18 degrees Celsius.
HOWELL: We're talking Antarctica. Scientists say many of the glaciers are melting because of global warming. Our Robyn Curnow looks at the long-term implications for the coldest place on the planet. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A chilly milestone for the planet, a research base in Antarctica says it has recorded the hottest temperature on record for the continent.
Scientists say a remote station in the northwest tip near South America reached over 18 degrees Celsius on Thursday, almost a full degree higher than the previous record measured five years ago.
CLARE NULLIS, WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION: It's among the fastest warming regions of the planet. We hear a lot about the Arctic but this particular part of the Antarctic peninsula is warming very quickly. Over the past 50 years, it has warmed almost 3 degrees Celsius.
CURNOW (voice-over): Antarctica is known for its frozen tundra conditions with some of the coldest temperatures on Earth. But when it clocked in a few days ago with temperatures similar to those in southern California, climate activists raised the alarm.
FRIDA BENGTSSON, GREENPEACE OCEANS CAMPAIGNER: I think it's important that we remind ourselves when we report on these record events that we look at the bigger picture. What worries me is the long-term average trends of increasing temperatures that we are seeing around the world.
CURNOW (voice-over): Global weather experts point out it is technically summer in the Southern Hemisphere and plan to verify the data. But record-breaking heat is being felt all around the world.
Forecasters saying the global temperature last month was warmer than every previous January on record. And if rising temperatures weren't enough, tour operators say the number of people traveling to Antarctica has increased by 50 percent in the past four years.
FRANCOISE LAPEYRE, FRENCH TOURIST (through translator): I'm a tourist who still feels a certain degree of guilt when I remembers I flew here and I'm traveling on a boat. Even though it consumes less than others and there are no more plastic bottles, we leave a footprint that you can't really ignore.
CURNOW (voice-over): Spectators with a view of one of the most remote places in the world that could be irretrievably loss if current trends continue -- Robyn Curnow, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOWELL: We are just hours away from one of Hollywood's biggest award shows.
ALLEN: We will find out next what to expect and who to watch at this year's Oscars.
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ALLEN: All right then. It's Hollywood's biggest night, tonight the Oscars and all the beautiful dresses on the red carpet and two movies predicted to be slugging it out for the Best Picture award, "1917" and Korean black comedy "Parasite."
HOWELL: Choosing the winner won't be as cut and dried as you might think. Stephanie Elam takes a look at the contenders.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the winner is --
GLENN CLOSE, ACTOR: And the actor goes to --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come get your bright, shiny thing so I can go home to bed.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Oscar showdown is set ...
MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR: "Parasite."
ELAM (voice-over): -- all signs point to a Best Picture faceoff between "Parasite" and "1917."
Why these two?
REESE WITHERSPOON, ACTOR: "1917".
ELAM (voice-over): "1917" won the Producers Guild Awards, which has predicted 21 of the last 30 Oscar winners and the film's unique style, as if shot in one long take, has impressed Hollywood.
SAM MENDES, DIRECTOR: We have that nice, relaxed period where you sit around with a cup of coffee and discuss whether you want to keep the scene in or take it out and everything we shot was in the movie.
ELAM (voice-over): "Parasite" has momentum after the Screen Actors Guild made it the first foreign film to win a SAG Award for best ensemble. It could do the same at the Oscars, where actors make up the largest voting bloc.
KANG-HO SONG, ACTOR (through translator): It would be blurring the lines between east and west and providing hope that everyone on this Earth could co-exist and that is why we must win Best Picture.
ELAM (voice-over): But Oscar can surprise, thanks in part to a Best Picture voting method similar to a caucus. Voters rank nominees from one to nine. Films with few number one votes are disqualified and those ballots instead count for the number two choice until one film has over 50 percent of all ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't expect it, honestly.
ELAM (voice-over): Something "Green Book" benefited from that weighted ballot last year. At the Oscars, there's always a chance for a plot twist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this town, that could all change like that.
ELAM (voice-over): Stephanie Elam, Hollywood.
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ALLEN: Last hour I spoke with film critic Richard Fitzwilliams on who he thought might take home an Oscar.
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RICHARD FITZWILLIAMS, ROYALTY COMMENTATOR: We know, I think, that Joaquin Phoenix is going to win for playing a comedian turned criminal in "Joker." It's a very powerful performance, etched on the memory. He's a slam dunk. There's no doubt about it.
Renee Zellweger all but got that award and it is an amazing performance. Judy Garland never won an Oscar, well, this will be an opportunity to pay tribute. Brad Pitt for supporting actor for "Once upon a Time in Hollywood" and no doubt for Laura Dern in "Marriage Story." Those we know.
ALLEN: I want to show a clip to our audience if they haven't seen that. Let's watch that with Laura Dern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MARRIAGE STORY")
LAURA DERN, ACTOR, "NORA FANSHAW": Fathers were expected to be silent and absent and unreliable and selfish. And we can all say we want them to be different. But on some basic level, we accept them. We love them for their fallibilities.
But people absolutely don't accept those same feelings in mothers. We don't accept it structurally and we don't accept it spiritually. Because the basis of our Judeo-Christian whatever is Mary, mother of Jesus, and she's perfect.
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"FANSHAW": She's a virgin who gives birth, unwaveringly supports her child and holds his dead body when he's gone.
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ALLEN: She called this role her most fun ever. And you could tell she's having a blast there, Richard.
FITZWILLIAMS: Oh, she is. This is my favorite movie because you played the clip from it and I think "Marriage Story" is fabulous. It's really remarkable and autobiographical. It's nominated for Best Picture. It's not going to win. We don't know which is.
This is the big question mark that will keep listeners and viewers absolutely riveted.
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ALLEN: All right. We'll have more on the Oscars in a few hours.
HOWELL: A lot of people will be watching for sure.
And for the first time, a woman will start the Olympic Torch Relay. Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki will start the torch's epic journey from Greece to Japan and the Tokyo 2020 games.
ALLEN: Korakaki won gold in the previous Olympic Games for her marksmanship and is returning to defend her title. The final carrier of the flame will also be a woman, 2016 pole vault champion Ekaterina Stefanidi.
HOWELL: The torch relay will end in traditional form with the flame being carried into the national stadium before lighting the main cauldron at the opening ceremony. Tokyo 2020 will start July 24th.
ALLEN: We're getting an early start, telling you about it. That came out of nowhere.
Thanks for watching, I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell. For viewers in the United States, "NEW DAY" is next and for international viewers, "BUSINESS TRAVELLER" is ahead.
