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Fighting ISIS in Northern Syria; Touring a Town Recently Liberated from ISIS Control; Confederate Flag Controversy; Manhunt Continues for New York Prison Escapees; Greek Debt Crisis
Aired June 23, 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. I'm Isha Sesay at the CNN Center. Kurdish fighters backed by coalition air strikes have beaten back
ISIS and taken control of a key town in Northern Syria. That's according to the opposition NGO, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The city
of Ain Issa is in the ISIS stronghold province of Raqqa, only 55 kilometers north of Raqqa City. It is one of several areas recently retaken from the
militants. Well, let's go to CNN International Correspondent Ben Wedeman in Baghdad for details. Ben, this town north of Raqqa, retaken by Syrian
and Kurdish fighters. How significant a victory is this?
BEN WEDEMAN: It's certainly is yet another advance by the YPG, the so- called Peoples Protection Force of the Kurds in Northeastern Syria, who, just last week took Tel Abyad on the Turkish border, and now they're
approaching ever closer to Raqqa as you mentioned. Just over 50 kilometers to the north of what is the de facto capitol of the caliphate so to speak.
Now, we don't have any indication at this point whether they will continue further, however, obviously, the closer they get to Raqqa, the stiffer the
resistance there will be.
Now, we under -- also understand from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that as a result of these recent advances by Kurdish and other
fighters towards Raqqa, for instance, the price of food there has skyrocketed, keeping in mind, of course, that Tel Abyad, that town on the
border with Turkey was one of the main conduits for goods coming into the northern part of Syria, controlled by ISIS. Now, ISIS still does have a
corridor to the northwest of Raqqa, toward Turkey, but what we're seeing, what we've seen in recent weeks, are steady advances by the YPG, by Syrian
tribesmen and others supported by coalition air strikes, gradually tightening the grip on ISIS.
Now, as the situation seems to be highly dynamic in Northern Syria. Here in Iraq, very static, where what we've seen are frontlines that have been
holding steady now for several weeks, but we're also seeing is that people are continuing to flee from the fighting in places like Anbar Province.
It's Iraq's Bridge of Sorrows, a rickety crossing over the Euphrates River for those who've lost their homes, their livelihoods, lost almost
everything but for a glimmer of hope. On the bridge known as Seabees, soldiers check papers, on the look out for ISIS infiltrators, but most,
like Mohamon (ph) Hussein and her family are simply seeking a semblance of peace. There was an air strike, she says. Our house was destroyed, and I
was hurt. We left because of the fear and terror. We couldn't sleep at night. Gimiali (ph) recently suffered a stroke. He was pushed over the
bridge on a cart. Clearly in pain, he's unaware of where he'll end up. I don't know, he says. I have nothing. Going the opposite way, food and
other goods, there's a war on, but business never stops.
This bridge represents the only way for civilians to go in and out of the remaining 20 percent of Anbar Province that's still under government
control, and even in that remaining 20 percent of Anbar, ISIS is present. Iraqi security forces recently rounded up more than 20 men suspected of
being members of the extremist group. Civilian cars sit idle on the far side of the river, cars from Anbar aren't allowed over the bridge for fear
they may be full of explosives.
The only solace here, for boys only, however, is a dip in the river, welcome relief from the scorching summer heat. Those without the means to
go any further or someone to vouch for them to security forces, end up in tents on the side of the road. They complain of lack of basic services,
food and clean water. We have nothing Sodaneji (ph) tells me. If you get sick here, either you recover or you die. A lot of the children are sick,
but most of us don't have the money to send them to a doctor, and so they must sit and wait in the heat and dust with their sorrows. And the number
of displaced people you see in this report is really just a drop in the bucket. According to the UN, there are more than three million people
displaced in Iraq since the fighting began a year ago, Isha.
SESAY: And then you mentioned in this conversation that the battle lines in Iraq remain largely static, even though, as we see from your report,
people are fleeing the misery. Why is that? What are we hearing about the fight on the ground?
WEDEMAN: Well, as -- when you speak to the people there, everybody has a different reason. Some say, for instance, that the places they fled to in
Anbar Province, the rent is too high. They've run out of money. They have to go pay -- spend a -- live with relatives, so every (inaudible) has a
different story, but so many people have been displaced. As far as the fighting goes, a month-and-a-half ago, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-
Abadi said that they would liberate Ramadi in a month, so we're still waiting. The people in Anbar are still waiting for some sort of offensive
so they can go back to their homes.
SESAY: Yeah, indeed.
WEDEMAN: Isha.
SESAY: CNN International Correspondent, Ben Wedeman joining us there from Baghdad. Thank you, Ben. Now, the Syrian town of Tel Abyad has also been
liberated after two years under ISIS occupation. CNN was able to get into the town, and we're hearing from people there how difficult life really was
under the militants. CNN's Arwa Damon visits some harrowing places where ISIS carried out its brutal form of justice. Here's her exclusive report.
ARWA DAMON: We traveled to the town of Tel Abyad with the YPG, the Kurdish fighting force that is currently in control of the town, and in just the
brief few hours that we were there, we were still able to get a bit of an insight into just how chilling life under ISIS really was. No one is
around to tell us who was held here or what horrors transpired at the Tel Abyad Prison. There is a stench of sewage. On one solitary confinement
cell's floor, blotches of red. A scrap of paper, an idea about what is considered a crime under ISIS. In this case, taking God's name in vain.
Among the many draconian directives of ISIS rule. Another forbidden act, smoking. This is the first time in two years that cigarettes are being
sold in the streets of Tel Abyad this man was just saying, and this is the first shipment that he's brought in. He's saying that there's a cage at
the roundabout down the street, that they would put people in for punishment for doing things like selling cigarettes. We're taken to see it
and told the story of a man who spent three days here for playing cards, also banned. The streets of Tel Abyad oddly very clean. ISIS also ordered
perpetrators of crimes to pick up trash. At one of the ISIS security offices, the ominous black flag dominates every wall, lest anyone forget
who is in control here, and we find a handful of blank pads of official forms the on an office shelf. Shuttered store front after store front is
spray painted red with the word dawle; meaning, it was claimed as property of the Islamic State. There's a group of men back there. They don't want
to appear on camera because they still have relatives living in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, but they were talking about how wretched life under
their rule was, how they didn't dare stand up to them, how no one dared on speak out, but they say they chose to continue living here because what
they have here, that was everything that they possessed in life, and trying to survive as a refugee would be just to difficult, and all of them who we
were speaking to then pointed to this roundabout. That was called the roundabout of death because it was here that ISIS carried out its
executions. The remnants of life under ISIS plagued this town where it seems that reality was worse than what most could ever imagine. ISIS may
have been driven out of Tel Abyad for now, but the fighting across Syria is still far from over, and the future of some still remain uncertain.
SESAY: Well, Arwa's exclusive report from inside Tel Abyad concludes Wednesday. She spoke with people there about life after ISIS, and learned
that the horror and terror of those two years is still felt both physically and psychologically. Be with us again Wednesday for that. Now, Australia
is trying to confirm the deaths of two men who left the country to fight for ISIS. One of the them shocked the world last year when he Tweeted a
picture of his seven-year-old son holding a severed head. Bryan Seymour of Australia's Seven (ph) Network has more.
BRYAN SEYMOUR: Is this Jihad justice? The Australians turned Islamic State murderers, reportedly killed in a drone strike in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These two men are not martyrs. They are criminal thugs who have been carrying out brutal terrorist attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shed no tears if, in fact, this is what's happened in this case.
SEYMOUR: The Pentagon said Australian forces joined in 29 air strikes in Syria and Iraq on Thursday. Both men were reportedly killed later that
evening near the Iraqi city of Mosul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys are so ill disciplined and so out of control that even by Islamic State terms, they must have been a bit of
embarrassment. You can't really spin them as being brave warriors. They were just yobos.
SEYMOUR: Today, family members of both men were reluctant to speak about their apparent deaths.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have no comment. Can you just please leave? Thank you.
SEYMOUR: Diagnosed mentally ill and jailed in 2009 for terrorism offenses, Khaled Sharrouf slipped out of Australia on his brother's passport.
Mohamed Elomar left at the same time. Last August, Sharrouf posted that photo of his seven-year-old son holding a severed head. Earlier this year,
Elomar reported married Sharrouf 14-year-old daughter. Well, this is the home of Khaled Sharrouf's sister, Damor (ph). She has young children
herself and will no doubt be frantically trying to determine if her nieces and nephews, her brother's children, are tonight safe. The question now,
will their widows and children be allowed home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The circumstances of the families will be considered once the reports have been verified. Seven News has been told the families
of the men have begun receiving congratulations for their martyrdom, though, we saw no evidence of that when we visited. Bryan Seymour, Seven
News.
SESAY: Controversy grows around the Confederate battle flag. Coming up, South Carolina's governor steps in and tells state lawmakers to take it
down from the state capitol ground. Plus, we're live from Upstate New York with a manhunt for two US prison escapees, and authorities say they have a
concrete new lead. All that and so much more right here at the International Desk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NIKKI HALEY: The flag will always be a part of the soil of South Carolina, but this is a moment in which we could say that, that flag, while an
integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.
SESAY: Well, that flag South Carolina's governor is referring to is a controversial Confederate battle flag now flying in front of the state's
capitol building. She's calling on state lawmakers to vote for its removal in the wake of the Charleston church shooting. CNN's Ana Cabrera joins us
now from Columbia, South Carolina. Ana, South Carolina's general assembly is meeting today at 1:00 p.m. What do we know of this afternoon's agenda?
ANA CABRERA: Well, the flag wasn't on the agenda to begin with, Isha, so it will very interesting to see how this plays out once they all get
together. Initially, they had planned to come back to the capitol following their initial regular session to address the final budget for the
state, and what I've been told just in the last few minutes is that some of these lawmakers are still trying to figure out themselves how this is going
to unfold regarding the Confederate flag issue following the governor's announcement and statement just yesterday. That caught a lot of the people
in the state off guard because the governor has previously supported where the flag currently stands. She's been a supporter of the compromise that
was reached to move from the capitol dome where there was once a big flag that flew overhead to where it is now alongside the Confederate War
Memorial. So what we understand is going to happen is at some point, they have to agree with two-thirds majority to add this issue to their list of
legislation that they have to work through before they go home at the end of the summer, so it's still up in the air as to what exactly is going to
happen moving forward, but it really is on the lawmakers to decide how this ends and what the future holds for this Confederate flag that's become such
a hot button issue, Isha.
SESAY: And, Ana, you're there in South Carolina speaking to people, obviously, hearing from your sources. Do we anticipate that it's going to
be a battle given all that has happened, that there are still people that will line up to stand against this move to take down the flag?
CABRERA: We've heard from people who say they don't believe right now is the time to address it. We've heard from lawmakers who say that they
believe that this would just be sort of capitalizing on a tragedy, and so it's hard to know. People have definitely been dancing around the issue
whether they support or not. Of course, the loudest voices have come -- and excuse the sirens going by -- the loudest voices have certainly been on
the side of removing the Confederate flag because of its divisiveness. There are a lot of supporters in this state who like the Confederate flag's
symbolism of heritage, of southern pride, of state's rights, and those are important values here in the south and in the State of South Carolina, but
what has really come to light through this massacre at the church in Charleston is that there is also a big group of people here who see the
flag as a symbol or a representation of segregation and slavery and the negative aspects of the history of this area, and that is why the governor,
for one, and many other republicans have also changed their tunes and saying that this flag, it's time for it to come down. It could still be a
part of their history, perhaps put in a museum, Isha.
SESAY: Ana Cabrera joining us there from Charleston -- from Columbia, South Carolina. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Now, what could be a
big break in the search for two convicted killers? That search is now in its third week. CNN's Boris Sanchez is live from Cadyville in Upstate New
York and joins us now. Boris, a lot of focus on that area surrounding that burglarized cabin. What's the status of the search now?
BORIS SANCHEZ: Isha, the search continues. This is by far the biggest break in the case so far. The strongest indication that these two men,
Richard Matt and David Sweat, are still in this area. Right now, we're at a command post about five miles away from the Clinton Correctional
Facility. To give you an idea, that cabin is about 20 miles away from the prison, and the DNA was discovered on some personal items in the cabin, but
investigators have not revealed exactly what those personal items are. Needless to say, this evidence is sparking a much more thorough and close
search in this area.
SESAY: Yeah. And, Boris, we're hearing from the husband of Joyce Mitchell, the prison employee who is now facing charges of helping these
two escaped killers. What light is he shedding on all of this?
SANCHEZ: Yeah. For the first time, we heard from Lyle Mitchell this morning. He told NBC that he believes his wife was manipulated by these
prisoners. He says that she backed away from a plan to help pick up these prisoners once they escaped from the prison because Richard Matt, one of
the escapees, asked her to drug her husband.
LYLE MITCHELL: She told me that Matt wanted her to pick them up, and she said, well, I never leave nowheres [sic] without Lyle, never. And he says,
well, I'll give you some pills to give him to knock him out, and then we'll -- and you come pick us up. She said, I am not doing that. She said, I
love my husband. I am not hurting him, and said then I knew I was over my head. She said, I can't do this.
SANCHEZ: Another interesting note, Isha. When asked about whether or not he would support his wife, Lyle Mitchell said he didn't know. He also
didn't rule out the possibility that he could testify against her in court.
SESAY: Well, a fascinating interview, fascinating insights, coming from Lyle Mitchell as he tells his side of the story. What about this line
we're getting told that tools were hidden in frozen meat, and got into the prison that way. What more can you tell us about that?
SANCHEZ: Frozen hamburger meat. Apparently, that's how investigators think these men got tools inside of their cell. They were in a part of the
prison known as the Honor Block, where it's not uncommon for prisoners to have food because they were allowed to cook their own food. Investigators
think it's possible that Joyce Mitchell may have convinced a guard at the prison to allow that frozen meat inside without going through a metal
detector, obviously, something that is against prison policy, Isha.
SESAY: Indeed. Many questions still to be answered. Boris Sanchez joining us there from Upstate New York. Thanks so much. Now, an
accomplished composer known for scoring Blockbuster films is believed to have died in a plane crash. James Horner was the registered owner of a
small plane that crashed in California on Monday. The pilot was killed on impact. It has not been confirmed that Horner was the person flying the
plane, but his assistant said on Facebook, she had suffered a great loss. James Horner worked on such hits as brave heart, Braveheart, Apollo 13,
Avatar, and he won
and he won two Oscars for the unforgettable music of Titanic. James Horner, veteran movie composer feared to have died at age 61.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Hello, everyone. Members of the Druze religious minority in the Golan Heights have attacked an Israeli ambulance that was carrying two
wounded Syrians. One of the Syrians was killed after local villagers threw stones at this vehicle. This is the second Druze attack on an Israeli
ambulance within 24 hours. The group is growing increasingly frustrated with Israel's treatment of wounded Syrians. They believe many of those
being helped are rebel fighters who are attacking Druze communities in Syria.
In Greece, there is new hope the country will be saved once again to avoid defaulting on its debts and (inaudible) out of the Eurozone. Eurozone
leaders have not yet agreed to give Greece a reprieve but they are welcoming new Greek proposals for austerity measures. Those ideas were
brought to a crisis summit on Monday with just a week to go before potential default. The negotiations are set to continue this week on the
ministerial level. CNN's Tadhg Enright joins us now with more from London. And, Tadhg, we're hearing that they are close to reaching a deal. The key
question here, how close?
TADHG ENRIGHT: Well, I guess they're much closer than they were --
SESAY: (Laughter).
TADHG ENRIGHT: -- they were before these latest proposals were made, and they've got to get closer because, as you say, we are just a week today
from Greece's next due payments to the IMF to one-and-a-half billion Euros, 1.6 billion, in fact. Now, it is the Greeks who have bridged the gap in
all of this, but proposals, though, came so late in the day that they haven't yet been properly analyzed by the number crunchers, but when the
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke last night in first reading of them, she said they were a step in the right direction.
THE INTERPRETER: What Greece has submitted is progress, but what's also clear from the discussions is that there is still a lot of work to do, and
the time we have for it is very short.
ENRIGHT: So the number crunchers are looking at those proposals now, and they hope to have a review of them done in time for a meeting a European
Finance Ministers. That's due to take place tomorrow night, and it's then we'll know whether these proposals are a runner enough, whether they'll
recommend them to their respective prime ministers.
SESAY: Well, the clock is ticking, Tadhg, as we both know. I mean, even if they get a deal, if the Eurozone leaders agree to a deal, can it clear
the Greek Parliament before the deadline of next week?
ENRIGHT: Yeah. That is the big problem. The thing you got to remember is while Alexis Tsipras is ruling Syriza party is that it's a relatively new
party, and it's effectively a coalition of many different left-wing factions, and some of which are more extreme than the others, some of whom
are already saying they don't agree with those proposals. Ultimately, Alexis Tsipras might have to count on, perhaps, opposition MP's to get this
over the line, and he will probably be able to present this to the Greek Parliament as a take this or leave the Euro plan.
SESAY: Well, the stakes are high. Tadhg joining us there from London. Appreciate it, Tadhg. Thank you. Now, some fisherman got more than they
bargained for off Australia's Victoria Coast. They accidentally caught an extremely rare basking shark in the seas near Portland. The basking shark
is the second largest fish in the world. This one is 6.3 meters long and weighs two tons. Scientists plan to study the remains. The basking shark
is sought for its fin and is protected in parts of the world. Millions more US government employees may be victims of a huge hacking attack.
Somebody in China was behind it. Ahead, we'll hear what Beijing has to say. Plus, searing heat stifles Southern Pakistan. Hospitals struggle to
keep up as the number of dead rises.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Welcome to the International Desk. I'm Isha Sesay. Here are the headlines. A Syrian opposition group says Kurdish fighters backed by
coalition air strikes have beaten back ISIS and taken control of a key northern town in Northern Syria. The City of Ain Issa is in the ISIS
stronghold province of Raqqa. It is one of several areas recently retaken from the militants. The Eurozone Summit on the Greek debt crisis ended
positively on Monday, but still with no agreement on helping Greece through an upcoming debt payment. Eurozone leaders welcome new proposals for
austerity from the Greek Government. Finance ministers will meet Wednesday to continue the negotiations. Searchers are scouring an area of Upstate
New York for two prison escapees after the men's DNA was found in a cabin. Meanwhile, a source tells CNN that the tools the pair used to break out on
June 6th, may have been smuggled into the prison inside frozen hamburger meat. Police in India say poisonous alcohol has killed 102 people in
Mumbai and sent 46 to hospital. The homebrew was made and sold illegally. Six people have been arrested and charged with culpable homicide,
poisoning, and abetting a crime. Now, the US and China began a set of high-level annual talks today in Washington. While the meetings are sure
to cover trade and other economic matters, it may be overshadowed by hacking allegations. This as the US says a recent data breach may be much
larger than originally thought. CNN's David McKenzie has more from Beijing.
DAVID MCKENZIE: The latest allegations are far more serious, that at least 18 million current, former, and perspective employees of federal agencies
in the US had their personal data hacked in a massive cyber security breach. Now, the Chinese have been blamed by investigators as backing this
attack, and China has repeatedly denied this, saying that the US accusations are irresponsible. On Tuesday, China weighed in again saying
that negotiations between the two sides is what is needed.
THE INTERPRETER: China and the United States had previously always had a good dialog mechanism on issues of internet security because of reasons
that everyone knows about and not because of China, this dialog has stopped.
MCKENZIE: There have been numerous accusations against China in the past of hacking into the US, but, in this case, the White House hasn't directly
pointed the finger at Beijing. Both China and the US are engaged in talks this week in Washington where cyber security will be an important talking
point. US officials say they'll bring it up directly with the Chinese. It's unlikely, though, that the Chinese will accept any responsibility for
the alleged attacks. David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.
SESAY: The rising death toll from the scorching heat wave in Pakistan' largest city has reportedly climbed to more than 400. Morgues in Karachi
are struggling to keep up with the dead. Temperatures hit nearly 45 degrees over the weekend, and power outages aren't helping. More than 2000
people are being treated in the city's biggest hospital, but some are dying from heat stroke even before they can get there.
THE INTERPRETER: I saw a dead body and when I asked the family what had happened, they told me that the father had died because there was no
ambulance available. These are the conditions under which we were living.
THE INTERPRETER: This is a horrific experience. It's like flame is traveling with me when I ride the motorbike. Every moment, I feel I will
stop breathing.
SESAY: Well, thankfully, Karachi is expected to get cooler weather later in the week. Two South Korean men accused of spying in North Korea have
been sentenced to hard labor for life. CNN's Will Ripley spoke with the men just last month, and he brings us more on this latest development.
WILL RIPLEY: South Korea's Unification Ministry is condemning the actions of the North saying that they unilaterally decided to hold a trial and
sentence two South Korean citizens to a life of hard labor, accusing them of being spies. South Korea also saying that the men have not had any
contact with their government or their families, yet, now, they potentially face the rest of their lives in a North Korean labor camp. Kim Kuk Gi, 61
years old, a missionary, confessed to being paid, he says, close to half a million dollars over nine years to spy on behalf of South Korea. Choe Chun
Gil, 56 years old, a businessman who was working in Northern China near the border with North Korea, made a very emotional plea to return home to his
wife and two daughters. He also says he was paid to steal state secrets, but, of course, South Korea's National Intelligence Service says those
men's confessions are simply not true. They deny that they were operating on behalf of the South Korean Government. North Korea in March announced
that they were arrested and called them heinous terrorists, accusing them, among other things, of bringing large quantities of forged currency into
their country. These two men just years away from being considered senior citizens now face potentially the same conditions as other detainees that
we've interviewed, including Kenneth Bae, who had to work six-day weeks, eight hours a day performing agricultural work, and, of course, there's a
United Nations report claiming brutal conditions inside North Korea's alleged network of Gulags. There are also two other South Koreans being
held right now. Won-moon Joo is 21 years old and a former New York University student who took a semester off and decided to travel to China
and then cross into North Korea. He says he wanted to be detained because he wanted to bring about some sort of a great act between the North and the
South. His Fate is still unclear right now, as is the fate of Kim Jeong- wook, a missionary, who was detained back in October, 2013, so four South Koreans still being held right now in the North, and two of them sentenced
to a life of hard labor. Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.
SESAY: In a rare first, the acting chairman of Samsung Group gave a televised apology over the spread of MERS in South Korea. The country is
experiencing the biggest outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome outside of Saudi Arabia, and the Samsung Medical Center may be at fault for
the spread of the virus. Here's some of the apology.
THE INTERPRETER: Our Samsung Medical Center was unable to stop the MERS infection and its spread and caused too much suffering and concern to the
public. I bow my head in apology.
SESAY: There are now 175 confirmed cases of the virus in South Korea. Twenty-seven people have died. The Northern Lights are always a stunning
sight, but from space, one astronaut noticed a startling change. His amazing photos and why they look purple, not green, next. Plus, an
unexpected passenger who probably didn't want to be flying in the first place, a cat fled with one of her nine lives and hold onto it for dear
life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Hello, everyone, the experimental Solar Impulse plane is getting ready to take off on the next leg of its round the world journey. The
solar-powered plane is scheduled to leave Japan in about three hours. It will attempt to fly to Hawaii powered only by the sun. Bad weather forced
an unplanned landing in Japan on June 1st. The pilot says there's finally a window of opportunity to make it to Hawaii. A severe geomagnetic storm
is hitting the earth right now. Experts say the storm is so strong it caused some blackouts on shortwave and low-frequency radio signals. The
burst of solar activity began on Monday creating beautiful auroras here on earth that will continue through Thursday. CNN meteorologist Pedram
Javaheri has more.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI: Hey, good day to you. Pretty incredible news to share with you. Our NASA astronaut Scott Kelly taking this from about 400
kilometers above the earth's surface and posting it onto his Twitter account, saying that he had never seen the auroras this color at least, as
far as aurora, and kind of think about this because the most common color being the green color. This is when you have particles from the sun
collide with oxygen, give you that green hue. The less common is the colors that you would see purples, blues, and violets when you have
particles of the sun interact with nitrogen and then you get up to the high altitude oxygen. That is the rarest of the variety, and this is precisely
what occurred over the past 24 hours when we had the red hues, but over the next couple of days, good possibility if you're in the high latitude, the
mid-latitudes, to see the aurora borealis stretching out over portions of Europe. If you're tuned in from London to Berlin, even maybe Moscow, a
possibility exists if you're at the right place at the right time.
SESAY: Fingers crossed. Well, curiosity didn't kill the cat, but it sure gave the flight school mascot an unusual perspective when she became an
accidental stowaway on an ultra light airplane. Jeanne Moos has more on the feline's terrifying flying lesson.
JEANNE MOOS: This is the story of an instructor and a passenger flying in an ultra light airplane when suddenly, the cat is out of the bag or at
least out of the wing. Not that anyone noticed at first. The two were flying over French Guiana in South America when pilot Romain Jantot did a
double take. There's a moment when your eyes go up.
ROMAIN JANTOT: That whoops moment.
MOOS: As in whoops. How did I miss the cat asleep or hiding in the fabric of the wing when during the pre-flight check? She was already the flight
school's mascot. Now, fur blowing in the wind, she earned her wings. Is she meowing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most powerful meow I ever heard.
MOOS: She may have been a no-name cat before, but now they're thinking of calling her stowaway. Not since cats parachuted. And a Swedish insurance
company ad has an airborne feline been such a hit online, and those were fake special effects. This was the real thing. The pilot immediately
headed back to the airport. This was an old Twilight Zone episode when William Shatner saw a monster on the wing, got out his gun, got sucked out
then shot it. The goal here was to not freak out the cat. Commenters wondered why the lady didn't reach after the cat and get a hold of it once
they touched down. The answer was obvious. They didn't want the cat to do what she did when the pilot reached for her on the ground, but up there,
high above earth, stowaway must have thought she had crossed into.....
ROD SERLING: The Twilight Zone.
JEANNE MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
SESAY: (Laughter). That does it for us here at International Desk, and I'm Isha Sesay, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Alex Thomas is up
next.
END
