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Khorasan Leader Killed in Drone Strike; Israel Counters Hamas Infiltration Tunnels; The Fight to End Human Trafficking; Police Death Controversy; Donald Trump Gives Out Senator's Phone Number; Battle over Surrogate Baby in Thailand; Armed Vigilantes Clash with Military in Mexico; Why Is Ottawa So Worried? Aired 10-11 ET
Aired July 22, 2015 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:00:00]
JONATHAN MANN, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Jonathan Mann. Thanks for joining us.
The leader of one of the world's most shadowy and dangerous terror groups has apparently been killed in Syria. The Pentagon says Muhsin al Fadhli
was targeted in a drone strike this month. He headed the Khorasan group, which consists of some of the most experienced veterans of Al Qaeda.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now from Washington.
Barbara, what can you tell us? He was hardly a household name.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: He was not, Jonathan. But this is someone that the U.S. military, the U.S. intelligence community wanted
to get for a very long time.
Muhsin al Fadhli was the head of the Khorasan group by all accounts, a group that had vowed to attack the United States, that wanted to launch
attacks against the U.S. and against the West and they had possibly the capability to do it.
They have bombmaking expertise according to U.S. officials. So someone they had been looking for for a long time, this all went down on July 8,
when U.S. intelligence apparently knew that al Fadhli would be driving in a car, in a vehicle, in Northern Syria near the town of Aleppo.
U.S. drone overhead fired a missile at him, killing him. It took the Pentagon several days to acknowledge the attack because they were trying to
confirm that, indeed, they got him. But yesterday they issued a statement saying that they did.
Now who is al Fadhli? Not just leader of the Khorasan group, but a very senior Al Qaeda operative. He is said to be one of the few that had
advance warning of the 9/11 attacks and somebody that was involved in October 2002 in another series of attacking involving U.S. Marines in
Kuwait -- Jonathan.
MANN: Tell us more about the Khorasan group itself, because we've all heard of Al Qaeda. We've all heard, unfortunately, of ISIS. But they seem
like the very opposite of ISIS; they don't put out videos or do photos.
STARR: Yes, this group is a strange thing. There's never been a very fulsome, on the record explanation from the Obama administration about this
group. Now you may remember, when the U.S. began airstrikes over Syria, literally the first night or two, there was an announcement, the first we
ever heard of them, that they had also launched strikes against this so- called Khorasan group in their strongholds in Northern Syria.
It was said at the time that the reason the U.S. was going after them was because they had threatened to attack the United States. The little that
we do know, the little that's been verified, is the top Khorasan officials are senior Al Qaeda members essentially, originally, who've moved through a
number of countries and then come to Syria.
They had worked with another militant group, if you will, affiliated in part, at least, with Al Qaeda, called the Al-Nusra Front and then had
become basically a very hardcore Al Qaeda offshoot.
So something, a group that the U.S. had wanted to track. There have been a number of hits ,if you will, against some of their leadership, but a very
small group and very, very under the radar. This is not a group that operates on social media, as you say, puts out statements or puts out
videos -- Jonathan.
MANN: All business. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
STARR: Sure.
MANN: Meantime we're monitoring a number of deadly attacks across the Middle East and South Asia, starting in Afghanistan, where suicide bombing
has killed at least 15 people. Police say the explosion was set off at a busy market near the border with Turkmenistan. Dozens were wounded and the
death toll could rise. Police believe the Taliban are to blame.
In Iraq, ISIS is claiming responsibility for two deadly suicide bombings in Baghdad. One attack killed at least 18 people in a mainly Shiite area;
more than 43 people were wounded. Have a look at some of the damage caused by the attack.
The Sunni extremist group says militants carried out another car bombing in a Shiite neighborhood southeast of the capital. Police say that bombing
killed two people and wounded nine.
ISIS is also gaining ground in Yemen, which is in the middle of a bitter civil war between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the deposed president.
ISIS carried out a car bombing near a Shiite mosque in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, Tuesday. Four people were killed. There are children among the
wounded.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is in Saudi Arabia which is leading the Arab coalition that's fighting against the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.
Carter is meeting with King Salman, trying to ease Saudi concerns over Tehran's influence in the region after the recently signed Iran nuclear
deal.
[10:05:00]
MANN: They also discussed maritime security and cyber security.
Just a day after Ash Carter left Israel, reports that Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank. The official Palestinian news agency
says it happened during clashes after Israeli troops searched houses near the town of Jenin. Israel's army has been carrying out regular raids in
the area to arrest suspected militants.
Meanwhile, Israel says it is using new technology to counter threats posed by Hamas. Officials say they're building what they call an underground
Iron Dome.
CNN's Oren Liebermann takes us inside tunnels allegedly used by Hamas fighters to infiltrate into Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This could be a video from last summer's Gaza War, Hamas militants in an underground tunnel, but
it's not. Israel's intelligence officials say Hamas is building new tunnels and finding them has become a top priority ever since the Gaza War.
Along the border with Gaza, Israel is testing a new tunnel detection system, working with the United States. Major Nir Peled (ph) says it is a
dangerous game of underground hide-and-seek.
MAJOR NIR PELED (PH), IDF: Every time we find that there's a new tunnel that our previous method didn't manage to actually find, we test ourselves
and analyze that case and find a new method to find the next one.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): During the war, Hamas militants launched surprise attacks from tunnels that crossed under Israel's security fence and into
Israel. The military says it destroyed more than 30 tunnels, some more than a mile long and 60 feet deep. The IDF says there were nearly 60 miles
of tunnels along the Gaza border.
CAPTAIN DANIEL ELBO, IDF: The ceiling is made out of concrete --
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Captain Daniel Elbo took us into one of the first tunnels the military found before the Gaza War. Israeli intelligence knew
Hamas was building tunnels but still had trouble pinpointing them. When soldiers stepped inside the tunnels, they were stunned by the construction.
There's a lot of room here, once you get used to this claustrophobic feel, to move quickly here. Somebody could run easily through this tunnel,
carrying weapons. There's even enough room here for a motorcycle and it's well built enough to ground the surfaces flat enough that you can move
quite quickly.
ELBO: The next tunnels will be at least as good as this one. And then we know that Hamas did not stop their digging process.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Tunnel experts say tunnels are not just a tool of the past; they are a battleground of the future.
COL. ATAL SHELACH (PH), TUNNEL EXPERT: It's going to be our problem for at least five decades from now. One of the main tools to a struggle and to
be, let's say, kind of a fair fight, it's to get -- it's to go underground.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Israel won't say much about the new tunnel detection system but the IDF says they're constantly working on improving
the system. Before the Gaza War, the IDF developed Iron Dome to protect against rocket attacks. Now they're testing the Iron Dome of the
underground to protect against tunnels -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Southern Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: A two-day conference at the Vatican on climate change and human trafficking will culminate with a concert next hour. Sixty-five mayors
and local political leaders from around the globe joined Pope Francis for the meeting, all signing a joint declaration against modern slavery.
The pope called on the United Nations to take action. It is to vote on sustainable development goals in September.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS (through translator): The United Nations really needs to take a very strong position on this issue, particularly the trafficking of
human beings that are caused by this environmental situation and the exploitation of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Our CNN Freedom Project highlights the fight against slavery and human trafficking. Here's an excerpt now from a documentary which host and
actress Jada Pinkett Smith introduces us to "Rachel," a sex trafficking survivor, who explains how strip clubs here in the United States are
sometimes fronts for brothels.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JADA PINKETT SMITH, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: For me, coming up, an independent woman was about being educated, being able to stand on your own. And it
shocked me that young women now feel like being an independent woman and getting that lifestyle you want, you get on that stripper pole.
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"RACHEL", SEX TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR: I don't remember a time in my life where I didn't know what sex was.
SMITH (voice-over): "Rachel's" journey into the life started very early.
"RACHEL": I do think that it does go back to being abused young, at a young age. And at the age of 7, I was actually introduced to pornography.
SMITH (voice-over): Like thousands of children each year, "Rachel" was sexually abused and didn't get the help she needed.
"RACHEL": I'm from a very small town in Georgia. As just the years passed, I continued a destructive lifestyle that everybody just ignored.
"She's just rebellious," you know --
[10:10:00]
"RACHEL": -- "she's just -- she just has problems."
SMITH (voice-over): Her destructive lifestyle soon landed her in a strip club.
"RACHEL": For me, it took about a year and then I started being exploited by the club management. I was told you can make more money this way.
SMITH (voice-over): "This way" meant giving the men much more than a lap dance.
"RACHEL": The club that I worked at, I would tell anybody, it's a modern- day brothel. You come in and they would say, oh, I want a African American girl. I want a small girl. I want a girl who looks underage.
MANN (voice-over): Be sure to join us later for the CNN Freedom Project documentary, "Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking." It
begins at 8:00 pm if you're watching in London, 9:00 if you're in Berlin, only on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: A gay couple battles to leave Thailand with their baby. Carmen (ph) was born to a surrogate who's now refusing to allow the infant to leave the
country.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN ENCINIA, TEXAS STATE TROOPER: Get out of the car. I will light you up. Get out.
SANDRA BLAND, MOTORIST: Wow.
ENCINIA: Now.
BLAND: Wow.
ENCINIA: Get out of the car.
BLAND: This is for a failure to signal?
MANN (voice-over): That video from the U.S. is putting police back in an unwanted spotlight after the driver was arrested, jailed and then died in
jail. All that and more here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK.
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MANN: Welcome back to the program.
There's a new case in the U.S. that critics are calling yet another example of police misconduct or maybe something much worse. The subject of the
police encounter was on her way to start a new job. Instead she died in jail.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us from Hempstead, Texas, with the story.
And I guess we should start with the woman. She was a young, up-and-coming young woman, on her way to start a new job.
Take it from there.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, 28-year-old Sandra Bland had just recently moved back here to this area of Texas, which is northwest of
Houston, the town of Hempstead, gotten a new job working at the university that she had graduated from.
On July 10th, she is pulled over by a state trooper here in Texas for failing to use her turn signal to change lanes. She was -- this newly
released video showed that altercation and the confrontation that took place between her and that DPS trooper. She ended up being arrested and
brought here to the jail that you see behind me, where she was found dead three days later in her jail cell.
Officials say she committed suicide; her family doesn't believe it at all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENCINIA: (INAUDIBLE) out of the car.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Newly released dashcam video of 28-year-old Sandra Bland's arrest is raising new questions about what really took place --
[10:15:00]
LAVANDERA (voice-over): -- just three days before she was found dead in this Texas jail cell.
For starters, the 52-minute video of the traffic stop and her arrest appears to have several discrepancies.
ENCINIA: Get out of the car.
BLAND: Don't touch me.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Watch as the white vehicle driving on the left suddenly vanishes from the road and this brief moment, where a tow truck
driver walks away from the dashcam's view, then quickly reappears at the truck's door, immediately following a scene repeats, all the while the
audio is playing uninterrupted. It's not clear whether the video was edited or if an equipment issue is to blame, all of this casting doubt that
the video reflects a continuous account of the heated encounter with Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia.
ENCINIA: I'm going to drag you out of here.
BLAND: So you're going to -- you're threatening to drag me out of my own car?
ENCINIA: Get out of the car. I will light you up. Get out.
BLAND: Wow.
ENCINIA: Now.
BLAND: Wow.
ENCINIA: Get out of the car.
BLAND: This is for a failure to signal? You're doing all of this for a --
ENCINIA: Get over there.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): A bystander captured images of the trooper holding Bland to the ground, but dashcam video caught what she's saying.
BLAND: You're a real man now. You just slammed me, knocked my head into the ground (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Authorities say Bland later committed suicide in her cell. This is a look inside where she spent her final hours. The
Texas Department of Public Safety says Trooper Encinia failed to comply with the department's standards for professionalism. He's been pulled off
patrol duty as state officials investigate.
Police say they are looking into Bland's death as a murder.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And Jonathan, just a short while ago, Texas DPS officials updated us on the issues with that video. They say that the video was not
edited, that there was a technical malfunction but they are working to correct it and will repost the video here shortly.
But all of this adding to the confusion and the mistrust that already exists in this case as the local district attorney here says, they are
looking into the death of Sandra Bland, not necessarily as a suicide but also looking into it as if it were a murder investigation to make sure that
all the family's questions are answered -- Jonathan.
MANN: Obviously right now what happened on that highway is less important than what happened in that cell where she was found dead. There is another
video that could shed some light on that.
What can you tell us about that?
LAVANDERA: Well, there is another 3-hour video that shows the area outside of the cell where Sandra Bland was being held and it's the three hours or
so leading up to the moment where people working inside the jail were found. There is not a lot of activity, nothing out of the ordinary that
you see on that three hours of video.
And as we mentioned, as dramatic as the arrest video is, there is also this 3-hour video that at least doesn't appear to show that it's -- there's
nobody inside of the jail cell that we know of or they say that there is none to be released.
But you know, there's nothing outside of the -- out of the ordinary on the video taken from inside the jail area, where it doesn't show any kind of
activity or any kind of ruckus going on inside of that cell.
So despite all of that, there is still that intense level of mistrust surrounding this case throughout the country -- Jonathan.
MANN: Mistrust and a mystery, Ed Lavandera in Hempstead, Texas, thanks very much.
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is back in the news again pushing his campaign now to the southern U.S. border. Trump is to
accompany of group of border patrol agents to the U.S. frontier with Mexico Thursday. The billionaire, you may recall, made some controversial remarks
denigrating Mexican immigrants recently.
Now he's in hot water again for a different reason. We get details from senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
Jeff, this seems -- this man seems like a marginal story that has moved to the center of American public life and will not leave.
What's the latest?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SR. WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Jonathan, you're right, good day.
This Republican presidential race has turned into something of a free-for- all and Donald Trump is right in the middle of it all. He's a reality show TV star turned politician but he's really become a lightning rod, a
controversial lightning rod, but he is not -- Democrats are sitting back and smiling at all this. He's at the center of the conversation, whether
Republicans like it or not.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: It's been a very interesting three weeks, I will tell you.
ZELENY (voice-over): That's a Donald Trump-sized understatement.
TRUMP: They didn't like the way that, you know, the little -- I'm a little loud. I'm a little too strong but I didn't like it.
ZELENY (voice-over): After rocketing to the top of the GOP field, Trump is now trying to stay there.
He's fighting Republicans, who fear he'll hurt the party's chances to win back the White House.
TRUMP: Every time I turn on I have -- I have some guy that is hitting me.
ZELENY (voice-over): This morning, a new Quinnipiac poll suggests some concerns of Republican leaders could be justified. In three key election
battlegrounds, Colorado, Iowa and Virginia, nearly six in 10 voters hold unfavorable views of Trump.
[10:20:00]
ZELENY (voice-over): But for now, his rhetoric is resonating with Republican primary voters. The war of words seemed to start when Lindsey
Graham said this to CNN.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), S.C.: He's becoming a jackass.
TRUMP: And then I watch this idiot, Lindsey Graham on television today, and he calls me a jackass. "He's a jackass."
ZELENY (voice-over): Trump retaliated by giving out Graham's personal cell phone number.
TRUMP: He gave me his number and I found the card. I wrote the number down. I don't know if it's the right number. Let's try it. 2-0-2.
ZELENY (voice-over): Jeb Bush said he respects Trump's supporters but gently urged them to take a second look.
JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: What am I supposed to call the guy, too, Donald? I mean, whatever his name is -- I'll call him Mr. Trump.
If we embrace this language of divisiveness and ugliness, we'll never win.
ZELENY (voice-over): And there are new signs Trump is starting to get the scrutiny of a front-runner, opposing campaigns are poring through his old
statements, including many from CNN like this:
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Do you identify more as a Democrat or Republican?
TRUMP: Well, you'd be shocked if I said that in many cases I probably identify more as a Democrat. And it just seems that the economy does
better under the Democrats than the Republicans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now it's those old views that could come back to haunt Trump but Trump is pressing ahead and he's trying to change the subject, this time
back to immigration. He's heading to the U.S.-Mexican border tomorrow for a tour with a group of border patrol agents. Expect another firestorm from
that visit -- Jonathan.
MANN: Now one of the reasons we keep talking about him is that he is leading in the polls, as you noted in your report, with support in the mid-
20 percent, 24 percent is one number that jumps out.
That normally wouldn't be an impressive number but there are 16 Republicans candidates with the field split up that broadly, can a guy with 24-25
percent prevail?
ZELENY: Sure. It's so early. I mean, we're in the summer before -- we're six months before any elections begin. The first voting does not happen
until early year in February.
But 24 percent, that doesn't sound like a lot. But it's twice as much as the next Republican candidate. As you said, Jonathan, the field is split
up so much, 16 candidates in the race here. So Donald Trump is getting a lot of the attention at this point in the race.
But now the challenge for him is to show that he can be presidential if he wants to be presidential and take a bit more of a serious tone here. But
the other Republican candidates across the field are struggle to get attention, get any recognition because Donald Trump, quite simply, is
taking up all the oxygen.
MANN: Jeff Zeleny in Washington, thanks very much.
And further proof, Trump's name came up Tuesday night when U.S. President Barack Obama appeared on the satirical news and talk show, "The Daily
Show." Here's Mr. Obama's exchange with host Jon Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm sure the Republicans are enjoying Mr. Trump's dominance of --
(CROSSTALK)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Anything that makes them -- anything that makes them look less crazy.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: It was the president's last interview with Stewart, who is signing off on August 6th. Mr. Obama's first appearance on the program was back in
2005.
A same-sex couple is terrified they will lose their new baby daughter because the baby's surrogate refuses to allow the infant to leave Thailand.
And Baby Carmen's future is now in the hands of a Thai court.
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MANN: Welcome back.
[10:25:00]
MANN: A gay couple is stuck in Thailand right now, fighting to take their baby daughter out of the country. She was born to a surrogate but now the
surrogate, who isn't related to the baby, is refusing to allow it. Paula Newton breaks down the complicated legal saga that's taking a terrible toll
on the family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A huge smile from Baby Carmen, a 6-month old unwittingly at the center of a legal dispute in the
murky world of Thai surrogacy.
BUD LAKE, FATHER: Yes, we just want to take our little girl home.
NEWTON (voice-over): American Bud Lake is Carmen's biological father, but he can't leave Thailand with her. Under the law, he needs the approval of
the surrogate mother who gave birth to her using an egg donor.
LAKE: I have no legal rights over Carmen and the woman that gives birth has all legal rights. And we have been terrified, absolutely terrified
from day one, that she, the police, social services, would try to take Carmen from us.
NEWTON (voice-over): Lake and his husband believe the surrogate decided to try and keep the baby because she found out they were gay.
But Verutai Maneenuchanert denies that, saying she only cares about Carmen's safety.
VERUTAI MANEENUCHANERT, SURROGATE MOTHER (through translator): I miss her every day. You see how cruel the world is today and I just don't know what
they're going to do with my baby.
NEWTON (voice-over): Maneenuchanert says she never agreed to give the baby to Lake. She filed complaints with the Thai police and the U.S. embassy.
MANEENUCHANERT (through translator): I will fight to the end of the court. I want her to stay in Thailand.
NEWTON (voice-over): Lake says the surrogate signed paperwork at the hospital and only changed her mind when he went to get a passport for his
baby. After a series of scandals, Thailand's military dictatorship has decided to outlaw surrogacy for foreigners. In one case, an Australian
couple left a baby with Down syndrome behind in Thailand.
In another, police suspect one 25-year-old Japanese man of fathering at least 12 children through surrogacy.
Now Carmen's parents are stuck fighting their case in the Thai legal system; far from home and from their jobs, Lake and his husband forced to
raised money online. Their main hope now is that the new surrogacy law does not take effect until the end of July, but the relevant provision
defines "parents" as a husband and wife.
LAKE: We're pretty confident that the courts are -- what they're really going to do is to take the best interest of Carmen into account. In our
mind, there's not a possibility that we can lose Carmen. I mean, I'm -- she's our daughter. And our daughter belongs with us.
NEWTON (voice-over): They are determined to stay in Thailand until they can leave with Carmen -- no matter how long it takes -- Paula Newton, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: World headlines just ahead plus violence erupts between Mexican vigilantes and the military, even though they're fighting the same enemy
how the war on drugs has led to the death of a 12-year-old boy.
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[10:30:00]
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MANN: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Jonathan Mann. Here are the headlines this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANN (voice-over): The Pentagon says the leader of a particularly fearsome Al Qaeda offshoot has been killed in a drone strike. Muhsin al Fadhli,
head of the Khorasan group, was targeted in Syria this month. Officials say Khorasan has actively plotted to attack U.S. and other Western
nations.
A suicide bombing has killed at least 15 people in Northern Afghanistan. Police say the explosion went off at a busy marketplace with -- near the
border with Turkmenistan . Dozens of people were wounded; the death toll could rise. Police are blaming the Taliban.
A two-day conference at the Vatican on climate change and human trafficking will wrap up with a concert. Mayors from around the globe joined Pope
Francis for the meeting, signing a joint declaration against modern slavery.
The pope called on the United Nations to take action.
A new interim police chief has been hired in Ferguson, Missouri, nearly a year after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teen.
The city just announced Andre Anderson of Arizona was given the job. Ferguson's former police chief resigned amid fallout from Michael Brown's
death and after a Justice Department report found Ferguson police engaged in racial profiling.
The death of a 12-year-old boy in Mexico is fueling mistrust between the military and armed vigilante groups. Civilians are increasingly taking the
fight against drug cartels into their own hands and people say in some cases instead of helping, the military is making things even worse.
Our Polo Sandoval reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Ixtapilla, Michoacan, cameras captured a violent clash between the Mexican military and a group
of civilians Sunday.
State officials say this violence was triggered when police arrested Semei Zepeda for possessing illegal firearms. Zepeda is the head of the local
autodefensas, a government-sanctioned group of civilians taking up arms against drug cartels, fighting for control of the region.
Gunfire erupts, civilians and soldiers scramble for cover and the chaos ends, four civilians are injured and a 12-year-old boy shot dead. This
clash is leading to questions and conflicting reports from both sides. Zepeda's group went online in defense, saying the military did not serve a
warrant for his arrest.
General Felipe Gurrola maintains his men fired only into the air and after being aggravated by the crowd with gunfire.
GENERAL FELIPE GURROLA , MEXICAN ARMY (through translator): These people cowardly used the vulnerable as shields for their illegal actions.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): A legislator representing that region is firing back, defending her constituents against the military's accusation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): That's foolish. They ask themselves what the children were doing there. They live there. They were
unarmed and they're used to being among the military all the time.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Gunshots have become the norm in Michoacan's mountainous region since 2013. That's when the vigilante groups, made up
mostly of farmers, rose up and armed themselves. Their objective: protect their towns amid a bloody cartel turf war. These days local defenders say
the soldiers, instead of standing beside them, are fighting with them.
The Mexican government promising to launch a full investigation into who fired those shots first. It's a move that's likely to provide little
comfort for the family of a little boy caught in an increasing violent conflict -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: You're at the IDESK. Still to come, a Canadian man has overcome outrageous odds more than once in his life. Why mathematicians say his
tale is one in 2 trillion.
And why the people of one city may be especially worried about the hack of the affair-promoting Ashley Madison website. Sweating it out in Ottawa --
coming up.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:35:00]
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MANN: Welcome back. You probably already know that the chances of getting struck by lightning are pretty low and the chances of winning a lottery,
well, in most cases even lower.
So what's the likelihood that both would happen to the same guy? CTV's Jonathan McInnis (ph) found a man in Canada who's defied those outrageous
odds and then some.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER MCCATHIE, LOTTO WINNER: We were on a boat trip and when we got in, the water's pretty shallow. So we locked in the lake just offshore and I
was trying to lock the boat up. It was a very sunny day, there was one big, white, fat cloud in the sky and the lightning bolt come through the
trees, hit me.
JONATHAN MCINNIS (PH), CTV (voice-over): But the series of astonishing events doesn't end there. A couple of years ago, Pete's daughter was
working as a wilderness guide in Manitoba when she, too, was struck by lightning in an eerily similar scenario.
MCCATHIE: They had pulled off the lake due to the storm. So she was locking all the canoes, making sure that they wouldn't get blown away and
she got hit by lightning while locking up the canoes.
MCINNIS (PH) (voice-over): But what are the odds of all these events happening to one person in their lifetime? We brought that problem to a
mathematics professor here at the University of Moncton.
SOPHIE LEGER, MATH PROFESSOR: By assuming that these events happened independently -- so probability of lotto, times another probability of
lightning -- since there are two people that got hit by lightning -- and we get approximately one in 2.6 trillions.
MCINNIS (PH) (voice-over): Yes, trillions, with a T.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: And what's the winner planning to do with all that money? Well, he told CTV network he's been married for 30 years, so it's time for a second
honeymoon with his wife.
Well, speaking of romance, we're learning some interesting things after the hack of the infidelity promoting website, Ashley Madison. A group called
The Impact Team threatens to expose their data from the site. The Reuters News Agency says the Canadian capital of Ottawa may be especially nervous.
The report says about one in five Ottawa residents is registered on Ashley Madison, thinking or having an affair. The most common postal code for
registration: Parliament Hill, the seat of power in the country.
What is happening in Ottawa? Let's bring in Haley Ritchie. She is a reporter with "Metro Ottawa," and she joins us now via Skype.
What is going on there?
HALEY RITCHIE, "METRO OTTAWA": Well, that's a really good question, Jonathan. I think first off, like you said, Ashley Madison's a website for
people who are thinking of having an affair. I'm not sure everybody in Ottawa believes that one in five number. That's pretty huge. So Ashley
Madison says we have about 200,000 people in the city who are thinking of cheating on their spouses through this website.
MANN: Let me stop you.
Why don't the people of Ottawa believe that number?
What -- it doesn't strike you as a sexy place to live?
RITCHIE: Well, you know, we have a certain reputation for being boring. I don't think it's that we're not a sexy place to live. But one in five
adults on this website is pretty huge, right? So a lot of people are saying maybe they're artificially created accounts, by bots or Ashley
Madison is making fake accounts, things like that.
But if you take all that out, that's still a lot of people in Ottawa who are using this website.
MANN: Right. So let me ask you, what you know, say, one in five, you know five people. You probably know 100 people. You probably work with five to
100 people.
When you come into work in the morning, do people have a kind of a glassy look to them? Are they all sitting back blowing smoke rings?
RITCHIE: I haven't noticed anyone sweating since Sunday here in the office. I don't know anyone who uses Ashley Madison. But certainly I
think some people in Ottawa might have reason to be nervous after this hack.
MANN: I would think so. And one of the amazing things, as we mentioned a moment ago, is that Parliament Hill seems to have the most registered
users.
[10:40:00]
MANN: Members of parliament presumably can't go to a bar or to a public place to meet someone to love.
Is it possible that all your hard-working lawmakers are doing double duty?
RITCHIE: Well, it's a possibility, right? I think Ottawa, like any other capital, we have sort of a political veneer. So we all know that
respectability is really important in the city and that's important. You don't want to be going into a bar and being seen, especially if you're a
well-known face. So conducting an affair online might be a good way around.
But I mean, you know --
MANN: -- let's not pick on Ottawa. I mean, I'll be honest, I'm a Canadian who moved to the United States. A lot of Americans are surprised to be
having this conversation about any city in Canada.
What am I missing now that I've moved away?
RITCHIE: Right. Everybody in Canada loves to hate Toronto. So I think maybe that's part of the disbelief here in Ottawa. We can't believe that
it's not Montreal or Vancouver or Toronto, some of our bigger cities.
And it's not that Ottawa has the most number of cheaters but Ashley Madison was saying per capita we have the most.
So I think it's involved politics. We're a wealthy city per capital. We have a lot power here, lots of egos. So --
MANN: -- question and I've got a theory.
Does it get very cold there in the winter?
RITCHIE: It certainly does. Maybe people are separated from their family, looking for a way to stay warm. I don't know. It can be a depressing city
in the winter. It's beautiful but it does get cold.
MANN: OK, Haley Ritchie of "Metro Ottawa," in the friendly city of Ottawa, thanks very much.
RITCHIE: Thank you.
MANN: And finally some lifesaving fidelity to leave you with in the story of two dogs who were just hours from being put to sleep. This is serious
and kind of sad really.
Just hours away from euthanasia when a photo of the two in this tight embrace saved them. The agency Angels Among Us Pet Rescue posted this
photo of Kala's front legs wrapped around Keria's neck to their Facebook page and it only took two hours and six minutes for animal lovers to rally
to their support and save the dogs. They have found a loving home.
That does it for us here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. We hope your home is loving. I'm Jonathan Mann. Don't go anywhere. "WORLD SPORT" with
Christina Macfarlane is next, featuring an interview with the man of the moment, Open chairmanship winner Zach Johnson. You're watching CNN.
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