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South Carolina Church Shooter Due in Court; Two New York Prison Escapees Subject of Manhunt; Stowaway Dies on Flight from South Africa to London; Syria Town Once Held by ISIS Examined; Protecting Iraq's Cultural Treasures

Aired June 19, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

ISHA SESAY: Welcome to the International Desk, everyone. I am Isha Sesay. He wanted to start a race war. That's what the confessed gunman in the

fatal US church shooting has said about the attack according to law enforcement sources. Dylann Roof is expected in court later in South

Carolina. Officials say Roof bought himself the .45 caliber handgun used in the shooting at the historic African-American church. We'll tell you

more about him in just a few minutes, but, first, we want to focus on the nine people whose lives were brutally cut short. Well, the victims of the

shooting had gathered at the Emanuel AME church to study the Bible. They were a small group including the pastor and other staff members, and the

gunman sat among them for an hour before opening fire. Let's get more now from CNN's Athena Jones in Charleston, South Carolina. Athena, a community

united in grief. Share with us what more we're learning about the victims of this tragedy.

ATHENA JONES: Hi, Isha, that's right. There is been an out pouring of grief and also words of sympathy and comfort for the victims, for the

victims' families and for the entire community, and it's really been a multi-racial coming together. Last night there was a prayer service at a

church just behind Emanuel AME, which you can see behind me. You can see across the street, there is a makeshift memorial that has been growing,

flowers and signs. Last night, several Presbyterian churches came together, black and white together to offer words of comfort and sympathy

to each other. There was also a candlelight vigil. This is all coming and we're learning more and more about these nine victims. From the heart of

the tragedy in South Carolina --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hope is in God.

JONES: -- to the historic walls of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Georgia. Thousands came to mourn nine of Charleston's most prominent educators and

religious leaders killed inside Emanuel AME Church Wednesday night, including four beloved reverends. Among them, 74-year-old retired Reverend

Daniel Simmons, who attended the church every Sunday. 49-year-old Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor, who served her community in the learning center

of Southern Wesleyan University. 45-year-old Reverend Sharonda Singleton, pictured here with her son on Mother's Day, coached at a local high school.

And the distinctive voice of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, leader of the Emanuel AME Church, was also silenced, gunned down at he preached.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so say him die face down in the ground.....

JONES: A state senator, Reverend Pinckney, became the youngest African- American ever elected to the South Carolina legislature. After the shooting of Walter Scott by police, he stressed the need for police body

cameras in South Carolina using powerful language.

CLEMENTA PINCKNEY: And that a badge and a gun does not give someone superiority or well trump their constitutionally-protected privileges and

rights in South Carolina.

JONES: Friends and family are struggle to cope with the loss of so many inside of place of worship. Recent college graduate, Tywanza Sanders just

26 years old, lost his life. Cynthia Hurd was 54 years and worked for decades as a librarian. Now, as a tribute to her life of service, a

library will be renamed in her honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just want to know why. Like, why would you do something like this.

JONES: Tim Johnson, mourning the loss of his 87-year-old grandmother, Susie. He remembers her at a loving person with a great smile. Susie's

70-year-old cousin, Ethel Lance, was also killed. And Myra Thompson, 59, was teaching the Bible study, held each Wednesday when the gunman opened

fire. Of the 13 people inside Emanuel AME Church that night, only three survived. One did so by playing dead. Another survivor telling family

members, the gunman told her, he was letting her live so she could tell the story of what happened there. And so these nine victims are being

remembered and honored, the series of events including later on tonight, the City of Charleston is holding a prayer vigil not far from here. Once

again, to honor the lives lost in this church behind me, Isha.

SESAY: And, Athena, in your report, you just mentioned that three people survived this horrific ordeal. Do we know how they're doing? What are we

hearing?

JONES: We're hearing through family members and friends of those survivors just what happened, as I mentioned that one person survived by playing

dead. Another person was told by the shooter, I'm letting you live so that you can tell this story, and so that -- the new details are still emerging

from those three who escaped death last -- two nights ago here at Emanuel AME, but we're still learning more, Isha.

SESAY: Yes. The shooter said he wanted to start a race war. We have seen this coming together of the people in the immediate aftermath, but, Athena

-- some technical problems there. We sadly have lost our connection with Athena Jones who was joining us there from Charleston, South Carolina, but,

of course, we'll continue to follow events there in Charleston and bring you more of a sense of how the community is reacting at this very difficult

time, and how the survivors are doing. Now, to turn to the shooter himself, we've just learned that Charleston Police have charged Dylann Roof

with nine counts murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, and we're getting details, more details about the

suspect's troubled past. People who have known him describe the confessed gunman as, quote, shy and quiet. A young man who kept mostly to himself.

He dropped out of high school after ninth grade and was arrested in February on drug charges. Roof was arrested again later. This time on a

trespassing charge. And take a look at this photo with me. This is a photo from Roof's Facebook page. It features a picture of him in the woods

wearing a jacket with two patches -- you see them there -- two patches depicting flags of former racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia, can

is now modern-day Zimbabwe. A friend of Roof's told ABC news how Roof felt about black people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted segregation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he want to see happen? How was he going to do this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he wanted something big like Trayvon Martin, and he wanted to make something spark up the race war again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of guns did he have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: .45 Glock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: .45 Glock. Did he carry it around?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his car.

SESAY: Well, Charleston is reeling from an incident nobody saw coming, and no one in the community will ever forget. As we try to reestablish our

signal in Charleston, Alisyn Camerota reminds how it all unfolded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you feel?

ALISYN CAMEROTA: Behind bars this morning, alleged mass murder, Dylann Roof, accused of killing nine people Wednesday at a historic African-

American church in Charleston, South Carolina. This cell phone video captured moments before the carnage, shows Roof sitting at a table with a

small Bible study group. The 21-year-old inside for about an hour before opening fire with a .45 caliber pistol. One of the survivors pleaded with

the gunman to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the young man tried to stop him from doing what he wanted to finish off, he said, no, you've raped our women, and you are

taking over the country.

CAMEROTA: After the massacre, Roof fled the scene and less than 14 hours later.....

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was God who mad this happen.

CAMEROTA: Floral shop owner, Debbie Dills, spots the alleged shooter more than 200 miles away in North Carolina, following Roof until police arrested

him without incident.

DEBBIE DILLS: God heard the prayers of those people, and he just used us as vessels to get his work done.

CAMEROTA: Roof's roommate, telling ABC News he was quote, big into segregation, alleging Roof was plotting something like this for six months.

Roof's childhood friend tells the network.....

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he wanted something big like Treyvon Martin, and he wanted to make something spark up the race war again.

CAMEROTA: This Facebook photo revealing two flags on Roof's jacket, one from Apartheid-era South Africa, the other from the former Rhodesia, when

it was ruled by a white minority now called Zimbabwe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's something weird and bad and hateful going on his mind.

CAMEROTA: The community left reeling, the governor of South Carolina fighting back tears.

NIKKI HALEY: The heart and soul of South Carolina was broken, and so we have some grieving to do, and we have some pain we have to go through.

CAMEROTA: President Obama said he and Michelle personally new several members of the historic Emanuel AME Church.

BARACK OBAMA: To say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their communities doesn't say enough to convey the heartache

and the sadness and the anger that we feel.

SESAY: Alisyn Camerota reporting there from a grief-stricken Charleston. Well, the US Justice Department is investigating the church massacre as a

hate crime. US Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina told CNN's Anderson Cooper, there is little doubt race was a factor.

ANDERSON COOPER: There's been a lot of talk today about whether this is an act of domestic terrorism. Is -- do you see it as an act of terrorism?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I certainly see the terrorism component as it relates to just a senseless violence, taken out on a group of innocent people in a

place of worship.

SESAY: Well, after learning of the church massacre, Senator Scott organization a prayer service on Capitol Hill attended by more than 100

members the of Congress and staffers. Ahead on the iDesk, America's most wanted, the hunt for two escaped murders continues. We'll go live to

Upstate New York for the latest on the search. Plus, one man is decided and another injured after making a 12-hour flight as stowaways. A live

report from London also right ahead. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. US Marshals are offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of two escaped murderers in New York.

David Sweat and Richard Matt have been on the run for nearly two weeks now. They're now on the list of the 15 most wanted fugitives in the United

States. Well, Alexandra Field joins me now live from Dannemora, New York. Alexandra, now that these two have been placed on this list, explain to us

the significance of the move, and what it means for efforts to find them.

ALEXANDRA FIELD: They've simply got to add some urgency to a search that is already a very urgent matter for the people who live in this community.

What this does, is that it further brings these two men to the public's attention at large. You've added a $50,000 reward now on top of the

$100,000 reward that was already in place for information that might lead to the arrest of Richard Matt and David Sweat. This list is reserved for

the worst of the worst. It's well known. It's the kind of thing that grabs the public's attention, and officials are hoping that this could

generate some new leads, you know, perhaps in this area, but perhaps well beyond it. There are still intense search efforts in the area surrounding

the prison. We know that police are right now focused on clearing empty buildings. They've gone through and cleared some 160 empty or abandoned

buildings. They're also turning their focus to seasonal camps were they suspect the fugitives could choose to go hide out or hunker down for a

period of time, and on top of that, Isha, they're now asking the public to take a look if they've got any surveillance cameras on their homes, if they

have any trail cameras. They wanted public to go back and take a look at those recordings, see if they were recording video around the time of the

escape and turn that into authorities, so they're really trying to grasp at any leads that they might find at this point, some 14 days after two

convicted killers managed to break out of this maximum-security prison.

SESAY: Well, Alexandra Field joining us there from Dannemora, New York. Alexandra Field, appreciate it. Thanks so much. And we will also have

much more ahead on the tragedy in Charleston, but we want to update you on some other international news including the fight against ISIS. We'll see

how Iraqi authorities aren't taking any chances when it comes to protecting ancient treasures in Babylon. Plus, across the border in Syria.

ARWA DAMON: This was one of the main ISIS security buildings here in Tel Abyad, a town that was just liberated a few days ago. We'll take you

inside the town once controlled by ISIS to see what the militants left behind. All that and much more right here at the International Desk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. Many of the day's headlines are focused on the horrific massacre in Charleston, but we also want to keep our eye on

ISIS and its campaign to expand its reach across the Middle East. We're going to look at the impact the militants are having on three parts of the

region, the Golan Heights, Ancient Babylon and Iraq, and Tel Abyad in Syria, a town newly liberated from ISIS. Well, hundreds of refugees have

begun returning to Tel Abyad just across the Turkish border inside Syria now that Kurdish fighters have defeated ISIS there. Our Arwa Damon visited

the town to see what ISIS left behind.

DAMON: This was one the main ISIS security buildings here in Tel Abyad, a town that was just liberated a few days ago by the Kurdish fighting force,

the YPGA, a small unit of Arab rebels and instrumental in it also, were coalition air strikes as the forces were approaching Tel Abyad. Inside,

very prominent, the black ISIS flag. Here on the wall, this is a addressed to all of our brothers on the check point is asking if anyone has

experience in teaching the Koran. In these back rooms, there are various other papers, administrative, pamphlets, booklets, that have been left

behind, and, of course, the ISIS flag again. This one is if someone has committed a crime and say, for example, and individual wants to come in and

guarantee to the ISIS authorities that, that crime won't be committed again, this is the form that they would fill out. It's just a small

indication of how much ISIS did run itself like a fairly-well organized state. People that we've been speaking to and most of the residents have

yet to return, were talking about how difficult life under ISIS was. They only stayed here because they didn't want to live at refugees, but many

people did flee. For example, if you look across the street, the red writing there, that says state on it, and you see it on a number of

buildings and storefronts here. That means that they were abandoned or that ISIS laid claim to them marking them with state. Most of them did

belong to Tel Abyad's Kurdish population, and there's horrific stories everywhere. There's the square that's called the square of death. There's

a cage that people were telling us individuals who had committed minor crimes like smoking in the street would get put into for a few days.

People relieved at this stage that not that much damage has been done to Tel Abyad, but many of them have yet to return. Arwa Damon, CNN, Tel

Abyad, Syria.

SESAY: Well, Syria's brutal civil war is posing a growing threat to people in neighboring countries including the Druez. They've been caught in the

middle as wayward rockets and mortar shells fly over the Golan Heights border. Oren Liebermann reports.

OREN LIEBERMANN: Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Jabhat al-Hashim less than a mile from the Israeli frontier. The militant Al-Nusra front

controls the town and the region. They're taking fire from the Syrian regime. As we watch the fighting, one shell hits near the village of

Hamdan, a Druze village of 2500. For the Druze, in the Israeli Golan, the war in Syria has just come a little closer. The Druze are an ethnic and

religious minority, monotheistic and secretive, spread throughout the Middle East. Most are in Syria, some in Lebanon and Israel.

MENDI SOFIDIN (ph): We want them to save the houses and (inaudible) place.

OREN LIEBERMANN: Mendi Sofidin (ph) a Druze from the Israeli Golan says he is spoking with the free Syrian Army as he trying to keep the fighting away

from Hamdan. So why is this area so important to the Syrian regime and the rebels. It's because of that mountain, Hermon, the highest mountain in the

Golan. Whoever controls it has a strategic outlook over southern Syria to Damascus and beyond, and right at the base of that mountain sits Syria

Druze village of Hamdan. Druze in the Golan, many of them whom are loyal to the Syrian regime and have families in Syria, have rallied for the Druze

in Syria; especially, after amateur video from a Druze website claimed to show Druze sheikhs killed by al-Nusra in Syria which CNN could not

independently verify. Member (inaudible), an Israeli Druze, says the community of Israel has pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to

Syrian Druze as they face threats from al-Nusra and ISIS, known here as DAESH.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need supporting machines and (inaudible) to fighting. They need medicine, other things, but they are not need people

[sic]. The Druze going to prepare 100,000 soldier now fighting DAESH and al-Nusra. It's big Army. They're going to prepare it.

LIEBERMANN: Israel has military vehicles right by the frontier fence at a field hospital to help injured Syrians, but the military faces a dilemma;

how to help the Syrian Druze without getting pulled into the conflict. Oren Liebermann, CNN, on the Golan Heights.

SESAY: Now to Iraq where antiquities experts aren't waiting for any potential ISIS threat to protect and preserve one of the country's most

treasured, ancient sites. Ben Wedeman joins us live from Baghdad with the details. Ben, tell us more about these efforts.

BEN WEDEMAN: Well, this is an effort. It's funded in part by the US State Department to try to really bring this site into a state where people can

and will visit. Now, at the moment, you go to Baghdad, and there's nobody there except those who actually work on the site, but the people there,

both Iraqis and Americans are hoping that some day, that site will open for people, not just the Iraqi public. People do actually go there in the --

on the weekend, but for tourists from abroad. They're hauling away bricks from the ancient city of Babylon. Don't worry. This isn't ISIS yet again

vandalizing ancient heritage. These men are with Iraq's Board of State Antiquities and Heritage, and the bricks are Babylonian. They date back to

the era of Saddam Hussein.

JEFF ALLEN: We've done a lot of cleaning here, remove garbage that had piled up, removing dead trees, broken -- we -- right now, we're working

over there behind there cleaning away a lot of stuff from the old picnic grounds surrounded by water.

WEDEMAN: Jeff Allen, of the World Monuments Fund has been coming to Babylon since after the fall of Saddam's regime.

ALLEN: Very high.

WEDEMAN: The World Monuments Fund recently received a $500,000 grant from the US State Department to help restore Babylon. Today a curious hybrid,

part crumbling ruins, part hastily built backdrop to Saddam's megalomania. He styled himself the reincarnation of the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar, II,

building a hill overlooking Babylon and on the hill of palace, so he could bask in Iraq's glorious distant past. Saddam tried to claim Babylon as his

own. ISIS would simply destroy it if it could, but they haven't reached Babylon, but the war has sucked away money from the effort to preserve it,

says archeologist, Hadi Musa (ph).

HADI MUSA (ph): That same town government and local government. This is the reality. No money.

WEDEMAN: No money.

MUSA (ph): No support.

WEDEMAN: With help from the World Monuments Fund, the State Board for Antiquities has used laser scanners to document every single brick in

Babylon's iconic Ishtar Gate. The important thing about this kind of documentation, explains engineer (inaudible), is that if ISIS vandalizes

this sight, we can restore it because we have precise specifications. Unfortunately, ancient sites in Northern Iraq ransacked by ISIS, including

Nineveh Hatra, were never scanned. Excavations began here in 1800's interrupted by one war after another. As a result, some areas of the site

have long been neglected.

ALLEN: We're looking at the remains of the tower of Babylon. What you see today is all that's left of a very large and tall tower.

WEDEMAN: And others untouched for years. All right. So we're a bit off the beaten track here in Babylon. Tourists don't come to this part, and

hardly any tourists come to Babylon itself. Of course, we've just seen the remains of the Tower of Babel. Now, we're going to see some old pit that

was dug more than a hundred years ago by German archeologists. It's still just a pit, but it was the heart of ancient Babylon.

ALLEN: The temple of Marduk is sort of the political, cultural cosmological religious center of the neo-Babylonian period. This was the

largest city of its kind during this period, and this was the center of action.

WEDEMAN: So much still to uncover, so little to do it with. And it's important to keep in mind that even though there's been a lot of focus on

the war against ISIS that's going on in Anbar Province in Northern Iraq, south of the -- south of Baghdad, where, of course, Babylon is, is

relatively peaceful, so, Isha, if you're not doing anything this summer --

SESAY: (Laughter).

WEDEMAN: -- I suggest a trip to Babylon. If you could make it.

SESAY: I'm thinking more of the beach. I'll be honest, Ben. But, you know, on a more serious note, how much of a priority is preserving heritage

at a time of so much bloodshed?

WEDEMAN: Well, on the one hand, as you heard from that report, the Iraqi Government really doesn't have the resources at the moment to kind of

protect and document many of these sites, and many of the sites even outside of the reach of ISIS are suffering from years, indeed, decades of

neglect. Now, as you saw, there are those like the World Monuments Fund who are trying to do what they can under the circumstances, but even for

them, it's very difficult because of security concerns and whatnot, but they are trying what they can, and, certainly, as regrettable as the

situation in Babylon is as a result of decades of neglect, it's certainly far better than those archeological sites in places like Syria, which are

really beyond the pale at this point.

SESAY: Yeah, indeed.

WEDEMAN: Isha.

SESAY: Ben Wedeman joining us there from Baghdad. Ben, always appreciate it. Thank you. Well, just ahead here at the International Desk, so far

plenty of talk, but no way out of the Greek debt crisis. We'll get the latest, live from Athens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome to the International Desk. I'm Isha Sesay. Here are the headlines. The confessed gunman in the fatal US church shooting has now

been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm during a violent crime. Law enforcement officials say Dylann Roof admitted he

killed nine people because he wanted to start a race war. They also say Roof bought the gun used in the attack. He's expected to appear in court

later. UN officials trying to broker a crease fire in Yemen, saying negotiations could continue into the weekend. They're meeting separately

in Geneva with Houthis representatives and supporters of Yemen's ousted president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The US Coast Guard says 17 people were

hurt when a cruise ship hit the wall of a seaway loch in Upstate New York. Authorities are still investigating what happened. The injured were taken

to a local hospital where they were treated and released. Now, British Airways is investigating the gruesome death of a stowaway. He fell from

plane as it prepared to land at Heathrow Airport. Our Frederick Pleitgen has the latest from London. Fred, what more do we know about what happened

here? Let's start with the flight route.

PLEITGEN: Well, the flight route was from Johannesburg to here at London Heathrow. This was a British Airways plane. One of the things that we

have to keep in mind is that this route is about 8000 miles, and the flight takes about 12 hours, so, certainly for someone to be in the wheel well for

that long, it's almost impossible for them to survive. Now, it appears as though this man fell out of the wheel well of the plane as the landing gear

was coming down, and we've been standing here in front of this building. It's actually the building where the body of this man was found, and it

really does seem as though whenever a 747, which is the type of plane on which all this happened, whenever a 747 flies over this building, it's

about right here where the landing gear comes out, and the interesting thing is also, Isha, is in this area around Heathrow Airport, this doesn't

happen very often, obviously, but there have been incidents in the past where stowaway have fallen out of airplanes and plunged to their deaths

here in this area. Now the police say there's not very much information as to who this person was. So far, they are treating this as what they had

called unexplained death, but they also say that there's a very strong indication that this man did fall out of the wheel well as the landing gear

was coming down, Isha.

SESAY: Yeah, horrible, horrible. There was another man who stowed away on the same flight.

PLEITGEN: Yeah.

SESAY: What are we hearing about his condition?

PLEITGEN: Well, this is really almost even more remarkable than the other incidents is that this man actually appears to have survive all this. He

was found on the tarmac after this plane landed. The police say he's in serious condition. It's unclear whether they've been able to ask him any

questions, but he appears to have survived all of this. Of course, this is remarkable because, not only the length of the flight, but also because of

how high an airplane flies. We know that the wheel well is not pressurized. There's very little air to breathe there. It gets extremely

cold, and in the past, most stowaways who have tried to hide in the wheel well or in other places in the underbelly of an air plane, have either

frozen to death and passed out and then fallen out of the wheel well as the landing gear was coming down. For someone to survive this is something

that is very remarkable. The police have not said when they plan to have any information on this person or when they might be able to question them

or how serious his condition actually is, but, certainly, it appears as though at this point in time he did survive an extremely long flight South

Africa all the way here to London Heathrow, Isha.

SESAY: Incredible that he could survive. Again, we're waiting to get an update on his condition.

PLEITGEN: Yeah.

SESAY: But this, obviously, raises questions about airport security that two individuals were able to get into the wheel well --

PLEITGEN: (Inaudible).

SESAY: -- and do something like this.

PLEITGEN: Yeah. Yeah. The big questions are, first of all, if these people actually managed to get on at Johannesburg airport, is how could

that happen? Could these have been people who have been working at the airport? How could people get access to the tarmac, and we've been asking

the South African Airport company, and they actually came out with a statement just before we were going to air right now, and all they're

saying for that at this point in time is that they're aware that this incident happened, that apparently there were two stowaways who were coming

from a Johannesburg flight that was bound here for London Heathrow. They say they are still trying to get the facts straight. They're investigating

the incident, and they also say that something like this has not happened in South Africa in the past 10 years, so, so far, there is little -- very

little information, but, of course, this is something that raises grave concerns, and it's also something where we have to say is Johannesburg

Airport -- it's not a small airport.

SESAY: Uh-huh.

PLEITGEN: It is a very big international airport that does have international airport security, so, certainly, the fact that this happened

is something that does raise a lot of questions, Isha.

SESAY: Yeah. That's very troubling indeed. Fred Pleitgen joining us there from London. Thank you, Fred. Now, the scramble for resolution to

the Greek debt crisis is getting more intense by the day. The EU will hold an emergency summit Monday after finance ministers failed to strike a deal

Thursday. Linda Lavroporu (ph) is live in Athens with the very latest. Linda, the rhetoric is heating up, and compromise seems very far off in the

distance.

LINDA LAVROPORU (ph): You're absolutely right, the rhetoric has been extremely -- well, extremely extreme is what I would say in this case, but

both sides have done their fair share, but the Greek prime minister today gave us a note of confidence that a solution will be found, and that a deal

can be struck on Monday. He said that he believes a good deal can be made that will keep Greece in the Eurozone, and this has been something that for

the whole of today has been pacifying people in Greece quite a lot. We know that a lot of money has left Greece (inaudible) billions of Euros have

been leaving Greek banks in this -- during this week. The statement by the prime minister was here to do exactly that, make sure that people stay

calm, that they wait for this summit on Monday where he's been saying that a deal can be made. In the next days ahead, we expect a lot of talks, a

lot of behind doors talks to take place ahead of this Sun -- this -- Monday's summit. We also heard that a Euro group is going to take place

before that, and, obviously, you know, things from now on have to move very quickly. I know that this is something they've been discussing for months

now, but this next week is absolutely crucial because Greece is getting closer and closer to an end of the month deadline. Now, this deadline that

involves a payment to the IMF, that if Greece is not able to make, it would default on its debt, and then we've heard about a series of things that

could happen next. Greece could be facing an exit from the Eurozone and even from the European Union, so people in Greece are obviously following

this, watching this very closely, and we just.....

SESAY: Okay. I had problems with Linda's (ph) connection there. Linda Lavroporu (ph) joining us there from Athens with an update on the situation

there as many wonder what will happen for Greece whether they'll able to make that payment due in a couple of days where they're due to give over a

million dollars -- a million Euros, I should say. to the ECB and the I MF, and a lot of negotiations still to be done before that deadline is reached.

Let's take a look at the European markets and see how they are doing in light of all of this that is taking place with Greek [sic] in the European

Union. Let's see. They have about an hour left in the trading day. They're up from Thursday. It might have been high but for the Greek debt

issue, which is really looming over Europe. I see the FTSE is up, as is the (inaudible) DAX, which is basically flat, but (inaudible), there's a

big -- and they're up six-tenths of a percent. (Inaudible) basically, also up a tenth of a percent, but, again, all eyes on the situation in Greece

and whether they will be able to strike a deal come Monday with that deadline fast approaching. You're with the International Desk, still to

come, a top US comedian reacts to the fatal church shooting with anger and pain, not humor. Stay with us and hear it for yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. Sadly, Wednesday's tragedy in Charleston isn't the first time the US has suffered a major shooting incident. Sandy Hook,

Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, the trend was addressed by Jon Stewart, host of the satirical news program, the Daily Show. The comedian veered away from

his normal style on Thursday night to deliver a somber take on the shooting and the racial motivation behind it.

JON STEWART: Once again, that we have to peer into the abyss of the depraved violence that we do to each other in the nexus of a just a gaping

racial wound that will not heal, yet, we pretend doesn't exist, and I'm confident, though, that by acknowledging it, by staring into that and

seeing it for what it is, we still won't do Jack (bleep). I heard someone on the news say. Tragedy has visited this church. This wasn't a tornado.

This was a racist. This was a guy with a Rhodesia badge on his sweater. You know, so the idea that we're -- you know, I hate to even use this pun,

but this one is black and white. It's -- there's no nuance here.

(APPLAUSE)

STEWART: This is -- and we're going to keep pretending like, I don't get it. What happened? This one guy lost his mind, but this -- we are steeped

in that culture in this country, and we refuse to recognize it.

SESAY: Jon Stewart with a blunt take a what happened Charleston, South Carolina. That does it for us here at the International Desk. I'm Isha

Sesay. World Sport with Amanda Davies is up next, and we want to leave you with some of the sights and sounds from vigils held to remember the nine

victims of Wednesday night's shooting in South Carolina.

(SINGING)

END