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U.S. Warplanes Deployed to Turkey; Syrians Military Struggles to Contain ISIS; Violence in Ferguson One Year after Teen's Death; Trump Not Backing Down from Controversial Comments; Channel Tunnel Migrant Crisis; Obama Defends Iran Nuclear Deal; Some of Brazil's Favorite Sports Won't Be in Olympics. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired August 10, 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]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Lynda Kinkade at the CNN Center.

We begin with new violence across Turkey, four police officers and a soldier were killed in the country's southeast while in Istanbul was hit by

two high-profile attacks, the first at a police station, a track bomb followed by a firefight that killed one person and wounded 10 others. Both

attackers were also killed.

And outside the U.S. consulate, two women opened fire; no one was hurt there and one of the suspects was caught. They're believed to be members

of a leftist organization.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh tells us the attacks come as Turkey fights a two- pronged battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: We have obviously such a vast amount of activity occurring in Turkey. We're now today in Atton

Beach (ph), as I said earlier, (INAUDIBLE) Ankara (INAUDIBLE) concern that they're facing a number of adversaries (ph), the ISIS potentially, although

it's not clear who's behind the attacks in Istanbul. And of course, the longer-term adversary, the PKK, who have been intimated as being the

culprits behind the attacks in southeast Turkey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Despite gunfire near the consulate in Istanbul, the U.S. is getting ready to use Turkey as a staging ground for strikes against ISIS.

Six American fighter jets have been deployed to a Turkish airbase not far from the border with Syria.

For more on this, we're joined by Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

And, Barbara, from the people you're speaking to, what sort of impact are they hoping this increased air campaign will have?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, by placing these fighter jets in southern Turkey at Incirlik Air Base, they are that much closer, of

course, to the border with Syria. And what their goal is is to conduct a number of airstrikes along that border region.

It's one of the last place along the border near there where ISIS has been able to continue to flow fighters, weapons and equipment across the border

into Syria from Turkey. So the goal here is conduct a number of airstrikes, shut that border crossing area down.

And they believe they can have some real impact because it -- they hope, at least, it will keep ISIS from moving more fighters, more equipment in and

using a southern route into Raqqa, Syria, which is its capital. They hope to really put a dent in ISIS capabilities -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And Barbara, this attack carried out on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul was carried out by two women. They are affiliated with a radical

group known as the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front.

What can you tell us about that group and its ideology?

STARR: If they are indeed affiliated with them, this is said to be a leftist group, anti-government, to say the least. And a group that has

been responsible for attacks in the past because consulate in Istanbul has come under attack twice recently, once in 2013, a Turkish security guard

was actually killed in the attack there and before that in 2008. The consulate remains closed today. We'll see what happens tomorrow and the

embassy putting out a warning a short time ago, reminding American citizens in Turkey to be very cautious, not go near the consulate for now, they say,

and to be very careful when they are in any large gatherings -- Lynda.

KINKADE: OK, Barbara Starr, thank you very much for that update from the Pentagon. We'll talk to you soon.

Now many people in the government controlled part of Syria's capital believe more airstrikes against ISIS will do little to change the landscape

of the country's civil war. Our Fred Pleitgen is in Damascus for a rare look at the mood there.

And, Fred, we know the country has a compulsory military conscription there.

Just give us an understanding of how many people are estimated to be in the Syrian army and how does it compare to the size of other forces within a

region?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a very good question, Lynda, and certainly it's unclear how many people were in

the Syrian army to begin with. However, there are estimates that go to somewhere around 200 to maybe 220,000 people.

But it's also by the accounts of most international groups they believe that the entity that has taken the most casualties since the beginning of

Syria's civil war four years ago has indeed been the Syrian military.

There are some people who put the casualty figures at somewhere between 50,000 up to 80,000 soldiers. Now it's no secret that Syria's military has

in some cases had trouble keeping its manpower up to the size that it actually wants. And one of the things that has also happened is that

they've created a second force, also with the help of the Iranians called the National Defense Force or NDF to prop up the ranks.

In the beginning, NDF troops were used mainly at checkpoints, mainly used to secure areas where maybe there was less rebel activities. However,

recently they have conducted more action --

[10:05:00]

PLEITGEN: -- on the battlefield as well and have indeed become a very important fighting force for the Assad regime. And then you have another

factor, which is foreign fighters loyal to the governments that are also fighting here in Syria, the most prominent would probably be Hezbollah,

which are coming in from Lebanon.

So there are many, many different places where the Syrian regime draws support from however it has had trouble maintaining the ranks. And that of

course is something that's also played out in their fight against ISIS as well because if the Syrian regime does believe that it's the force that's

taking the brunt of the attacks on ISIS, just look at the past couple of months, in places like Palmyra and other places as well, they have had some

losses against ISIS in those areas -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And, Fred, obviously this civil war has dragged on for more than four years. We know President Bashar al-Assad recently said they will be a

general amnesty for military deserters.

Are they allowed large amounts of deserters?

And what does that policy indicate?

Is the president absolutely desperate for more troops?

PLEITGEN: Well, I wouldn't say he's desperate yet. I do think that the Syrian military does have some problems replenishing its ranks. I do think

that they do have a certain morale problem in certain places.

But one of the things we have to keep in mind is that there are actually also a lot of Syrians who are volunteering for the military as well. If

you look for instance at places like Tartus, which is on the Syrian coast, which has always been a place that very much supports Bashar al-Assad,

there have been a lot of military recruits coming from there as well.

So I wouldn't say at this point the president is desperate; however, the fact that there has been this amnesty on people who have avoided the draft,

also people who have deserted, does show that they are trying to get these people back into the fold somehow because, of course, after four years,

this is a military that not only as far as its personnel has been decimated, but also as far as the equipment as well.

If you look at the number of helicopters, the number of airplanes that are still actually capable of flying, capable of carrying out missions, it is a

military that is stretched and is one that certainly in the past couple of weeks and past couple of months has had to concede them territory, not just

ISIS but to other rebel factions as well -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And, Fred, we know that a number of Western governments have wanted President Assad gone for a very long time. Give us a sense of how

much support he has within Syria.

PLEITGEN: That's a very good question because what you have is you obviously have the rebel-controlled areas that are not controlled by the

government, where certainly he doesn't appear to have very much support at this point in time. But if you look at the places that are controlled by

the government, I would say that many people who live in these places are actually more entrenched behind Bashar al-Assad than they were before

simply because a lot of them are afraid of what the alternative to Bashar al-Assad might be.

They see the advances that ISIS has been making. They see groups like the Nusra Front and certainly if you look at many of the secular people here in

this country and, of course, Syria was for a very long time and still very much is a country that really didn't have that many extremists. It is a

country of secular people. And then you take a look at the minorities, the Alawites, the Christians, the Druze, they, of course, fear retribution if,

in fact, the Assad regime falls.

So the support base for Bashar al-Assad is not countrywide, but it is one that seems to be getting more entrenched as the civil war drags on and

people, for instance, see the kind of atrocities that ISIS is committing in the places that it's taking over -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And, Fred, we know already an estimate of 4 million people have fled. Just give us an understanding of the state of the economy and from

those you're speaking to and more wanting to simply pack up and seek refuge elsewhere.

PLEITGEN: Well, you know, the interesting thing about the Syrian economy is, of course, it is one that has taken a lot of hits. It's in dire

straits. If you look at, for instance, the fuel situation here in Damascus, it's very difficult to get fuel, very difficult to get some

medications, also the industrial complex has also suffered a great deal.

But it is actually an economy that is fairly resilient. If you do go into stores here in Damascus, you can still get most of the products that you

could probably get before the civil war broke out. A lot of that, of course, is very different when you look into rebel areas and areas, of

course, where intense fighting is going on.

So the economy has indeed suffered a lot. It is one that has been noted to be on the brink of collapse for a very long time but is muddling through

somehow.

One of the other things that we have to keep in mind when we talk about the number of people that have fled the country is that a lot of people have,

millions of people have. But a lot of people have also fled internally. They're internally displaced people and many of them have fled through the

government-controlled areas.

If you look at the areas here around Damascus, there's a lot of internally displaced people here. The coastal areas, that have still been somewhat

immune from the fighting so far, a lot of internally displaced people there as well, towns like Tartus that have -- are now four times as big as they

were before. And that's also something that's making it very difficult, not just for the government, but also for --

[10:10:00]

PLEITGEN: -- international aid agencies to get these people what they need because, in some cases, to bring supplies to internally displaced people,

to refugees, some of these aid convoys have to go through several front lines and deal with various rebel and pro-government factions to actually

get these people what they need.

So the economy is suffering and a lot of people outside Syria are suffering but also a lot of people internally displaced inside Syria are suffering a

great deal as well. And that's one of the things that makes this civil war so tragic -- Lynda.

KINKADE: Some great analysis there, Frederik Pleitgen in Damascus, Syria, thank you very much.

The Taliban are claiming responsibility for the latest deadly bombing in Afghanistan. It happened on Monday just after noon local time at a

checkpoint for the Kabul International Airport. At least five people were killed and 16 others were wounded. The Taliban says they were targeting

foreign forces entering the airport.

Monday's violence follows a deadly weekend in which more than 50 people were killed in Taliban claimed attacks.

Police in Sweden say two people have been stabbed to death at an IKEA store about an hour west of Stockholm. The third person was severely wounded and

is now in surgery. One man has been arrested for the suspected murder. Authorities have not yet released any possible motive. IKEA says the story

is currently closed and police are continuing that investigation.

Still to come, the city of Ferguson, Missouri, is bracing for more protests following a night of violence. Gunfire erupted in the city a year after a

white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Sunday started with peaceful remembrances but as night fell,

police came under heavy fire from the gunman.

Our Sara Sidner was there when the chaos broke out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was there for all three separate shootings that police have now confirmed, one person has been shot and is

in critical condition; another two have been shot, both of them in the chest.

SIDNER (voice-over): Gunshots ring out on the streets of Ferguson on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death, erupting into chaos

overnight when gunfire sent protesters and police running for cover.

Watch as this video captures another angle of the moment the shooting breaks out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect engages them with gunfire. The plainclothes detectives return fire from the inside of the van.

SIDNER (voice-over): St. Louis County police say officers were involved in heavy gunfire in two shootings Sunday night. In one incident, police say a

suspect shot directly at plainclothes officers with a stolen 9 mm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were four officers who were in that van, all four fired at the suspect and the suspect fell there.

SIDNER (voice-over): I captured some gunshots on camera as I interviewed Ferguson's interim police chief.

This graphic video posted by Search4Swag on Twitter shows a man who was shot while fleeing police. Police say he had fired at them. Police also

say a stolen handgun was found on the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He, (INAUDIBLE), give us some help, man.

SIDNER (voice-over): Angry protesters clashing with police.

-- hurling bottles and bricks at officers, police deploying tear gas to disperse the crowds. Two businesses were damaged and looted. These images

capture bullet holes in unmarked police cruisers caught in the crossfire.

The night of unrest following a day of peaceful vigils to remember Brown's death and the movement it started.

Demonstrators marched and observed 4.5 minutes of silence, one minute for every hour that Brown's body lay on the street after he was shot.

Brown's killing by a white officer sparked outrage and protest nationwide, though the officer was later cleared by both a grand jury and an Department

of Justice investigation, anger bubbled over, violence then.

-- mirroring violence now, one year later.

The St. Louis County police chief coming out very strongly and saying that what happened on West Florissant this time with the shooting had nothing to

do with protesters, that these were criminals taking advantage of the situation. We do know that at least one officer had lacerations to her

face, hit with a brick.

We also know that police are telling us that two vehicles, two of their undercover vehicles were hit by bullets as well, saying that the person

that they were pursuing this case and ended up shooting began shooting at them -- back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Sara Sidner reporting there.

Still to come, Donald Trump is refusing to apologize after controversial comments he made about a female FOX News anchor.

Could the U.S. presidential candidate's latest misstep cost him in the polls? That story just ahead.

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KINKADE: To U.S. politics now: Donald Trump is not backing down from a controversial comment that he made about FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly.

Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper over the weekend that he was not referring to menstruation when he said Kelly had, quote, "blood coming out of her

wherever."

He claims he meant her nose or ears.

To talk whether this could knock Trump off the top of the polls, let's bring in Athena Jones who joins us now from Washington.

Athena, Trump claims that if you look at social media, so many people have come out in support of him. But from your analysis, can we expect him to

take a hit when the next polling numbers come out?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lynda. Well, that's really the big question here. Donald Trump has offended Hispanic immigrants; he's

offended veterans. He's offended former prisoners of war, like Arizona senator John McCain. And he's done all of this without hurting his

standing in the polls.

And so the question now is whether these latest remarks will do any lasting damage to his candidacy, especially with women.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): Donald Trump on the offensive.

DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: All I was doing was referring to her anger. I said nothing wrong whatsoever.

JONES (voice-over): The latest controversy surrounding the billionaire erupted after he said this about FOX anchor Megyn Kelly, one of the

moderators of Thursday's debate, to CNN's Don Lemon.

TRUMP: . she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming

out of her wherever.

JONES (voice-over): Trump was upset with what he calls "unfair questioning" from her during the Republican primary debate.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: You call women you don't like "fat pigs," "dogs," "slobs" and "disgusting animals."

JONES (voice-over): The GOP front-runner appeared on four Sunday shows to defend himself, including CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," saying he never

intended to suggest Kelly was having her period as many interpreted his comments.

TRUMP: I was going to say nose and/or ears, because that's a very common statement, blood flowing out of somebody's nose. It's a statement showing

anger.

Do you think I'd make a stupid statement like that?

Who would make a statement like that?

Only a sick person would even think about it.

JONES (voice-over): In a sign of growing concern in some GOP quarters, Trump was disinvited from a conservative Republican gathering over the

weekend after the comments about Kelly. Many, but not all of Trump's GOP rivals, criticized the remarks.

JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: Do we want to win? Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters? What Donald Trump said is wrong.

CARLY FIORINA (R), CALIF.: They were completely inappropriate and offensive comments, period.

JONES (voice-over): A comment that drew fire from Trump on Sunday when he tweeted, "If you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than 10 minutes straight,

you develop a massive headache."

Now over the weekend Trump's campaign lost a top political adviser. They say they fired him; he says he quit over concerns about the campaign's

direction. Now Trump's next public event is --

[10:20:00]

JONES: -- tomorrow night in Michigan -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And of course the Democrats claim -- and have long claimed -- that the Republicans have this war on women.

With that in mind, how do you think this saga is affecting the public perception of the Republican Party? And showing, I guess, this adds fuel

to that fire.

JONES: Well, it certainly does. In some ways it's music to Democrats' ears. They can use Trump's comments to paint this broad brush about the

Republican Party, of course other Republican candidates are saying just the opposite. They're saying we're aware of the fact that the other party's

going to try to paint us in this way. We want to make sure that we don't let them do that.

But then you heard from former Florida governor Jeb Bush. But I can tell you in the polling that was done before the debate -- we're still waiting

for polling from after the debate; it was less than a week ago -- when the polling done before that showed that Trump had a more favorable rating

among men than among women.

So certainly he could face some backlash in the polls, especially from women supporters.

But again, the broader concern is how is this making the Republican Party look? A lot of folks will say, hey, it's early on; there's still time to

kind of undo any damage that he may be doing. But others would say not so much. This is really going to make an indelible mark on voters, even ones

who aren't paying that much attention at this early stage.

We'll have to wait and see who's right -- Lynda.

KINKADE: We certainly will. It'll one of the most eagerly anticipated polls for quite a while -- Athena Jones in Washington, thank you very much.

JONES: Thanks.

KINKADE: (INAUDIBLE) led to terrible destruction along Taiwan in the southern coast of China. In Southern Taiwan, the wind was so strong it

swept up a car. Have a look at these pictures. You can see the car moving along a road when it runs into a power gust of wind and disappears. As the

twister rolls ahead, the car is swept up.

The (INAUDIBLE) daily reports the car flew along the wind with -- for around 30 meters before landing on the side of the road. The three people

inside suffered only minor injuries.

Quite incredible.

Still ahead at the INTERNATIONAL DESK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must have a seal on this cord. If I arrived in the U.K. and there's any kind of immigrants in there, that relieves me of 2,000

pounds per person.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Even driving his truck is a job. But for migrants, it could carry them to a better life. We'll go on the road as this lorry

driver runs the migrant gantlet.

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

The Mediterranean migrant crisis is spiking in Greece. Over the weekend, hundreds of migrants made the dangerous journey in flimsy boats, many of

them from Afghanistan and Syria.

The U.N. refugee agency says Greece has seen a huge influx of migrants. UNHCR reports that so far this year more than 120,000 people have traveled

to Greece by sea. That's a 750 percent increase from 2014.

Now once they're in Europe, many migrants want to make their way to the U.K. and the final obstacle is the English Channel. But that barrier is

getting more difficult to cross.

Over the weekend, protesters gathered at a new fence in Calais designed to stop migrants getting to the Channel Tunnel. They showed their support of

the migrants and the opposition --

[10:25:00]

KINKADE: -- to the fence. Nearby about 3,000 migrants are living in a camp called The Jungle. Injuries and even deaths have been on the rise as

more migrants try to stow away in trucks.

And the U.N. says it doesn't see the problem easing anytime soon. CNN got a first-hand account from a truck driver, who sees the crisis up close on a

daily basis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I've done international work since the end of 1986 and there's always been a job I've enjoyed. I've never had any

problem doing the job. But the last 10-15 years with this immigration problem, it's become dangerous.

When you finish loading your vehicle, you must put the TIR quarter-round, which hopefully prevents any kind of immigrants breaking entry into the

vehicle. When you get to the back, you must have a seal on this cord. If I arrived in the U.K. and there's any kind of immigrants in there, that

relieves me of 2,000 pounds per person.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I've seen guys in front of me have immigrants run across the road and dive under the trailer. They

(INAUDIBLE) and it's very easy picking for the (INAUDIBLE) straight onto your trailer. Sometimes even when you're driving I've had bricks thrown at

the window screen, hit the top left on side of the cab. And that is what we are up against here.

When you see them cut the side of a trailer open with a long knife, it's possible that they're going to use it if you're going to try and detain

them.

I had my back doors opened while I was driving around a corner. I stopped just for a few seconds, turned right and I could see my mirrors were full

of them. They were chasing me and one got the door open, jumped up in and obviously one of his friends closed it. To jump in whilst you're on the

move, I think, that's desperate, very.

You're just coming down towards where we're now going to start to go through all the security checks. The checks now have got very, very

stringent. They now check every curtain sided vehicle. We will go through a CO2 check to detect if there's anybody in the trailer; hopefully there's

not. The trailer will be checked for any signs of damage and if they see any kind of damage which they're not happy with, then they will look in the

trailer.

The dogs generally are the ones that pick up if there's anything about. They have found more than any of these x-ray machines have found. Once you

get the green light to go you move from there and you drop down to actually drive onto the train itself. And I think that's where they've been

starting to get in.

Home at last. All you need to do, check the cord, give it a good tug, check, see if there's any marks or cuts. There's the seal still intact.

You can see there's no marks. Generally you can have marks on the back doors, where they've scuffed their feet on there, where they've been put up

by other people.

Hopefully, that should be all OK. Then I'll go back and do it all again tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE (voice-over): And our website takes you inside The Jungle, the camp where thousands of migrants live while waiting to make that perilous

journey into England. You can find out more about it at CNN.com.

You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Still to come, U.S. President Barack Obama is pushing back against criticism of the Iran nuclear deal. Hear

what he has to say.

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[10:30:00]

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KINKADE: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Here are the headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE (voice-over): Attacks in Turkey have left at least eight people dead, a bomb and a firefight killed one police officer and both attackers

at a police station in Istanbul. And suspected leftists opened up fire outside the U.S. consulate. No one was hurt.

Meantime, four police and a soldier were killed in the south, where Turkish forces are fighting Kurdish separatists.

Protests are planned in Ferguson, Missouri, following a night of violence. Thunder began with peaceful vigils marking a year since the police killing

of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Through the night, protesters threw bricks at police officers and critically injuring someone and a

suspect they say who fired shots at them.

The final hearing in Iran's secretive trial against a "Washington Post" reporter was held on Monday with no verdict announced. Jason Rezaian has

been in custody for more than a year on espionage charges, which he denies. "The Post" reports that Rezaian and his attorney are unclear on when a

verdict will be announced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Nearly 60 U.S. lawmakers are in an Israel to discuss the nuclear deal with Iran. Congress has just about five weeks to decide whether to

approve that agreement. President Barack Obama has been trying to rally support for it, despite opposition from several lawmakers and from Israel.

Mr. Obama spoke exclusively to our Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So the question has to be, is there in fact a better path to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear

weapon than this one?

And I've repeatedly asked both Prime Minister Netanyahu and others to present me a reasonable, realistic plan that would achieve exactly what

this deal achieves, and I have yet to get a response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Our White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is on Martha's Vineyard where President Obama is vacationing and she joins us now.

Michelle, thanks for being with us. President Obama is on a two-week holiday there as we know.

Is he getting much time to relax? Or do you sense that he's worried that more people within his own party will turn against this deal?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little of both. In fact, before he went on this trip, the White House was expressing

over and over again the confidence they have -- not necessarily that Congress won't vote to disapprove of the Iran deal, but the confidence of

the White House at least has the votes to sustain a presidential veto if that happened.

So the plan was for the president to come here and really have a vacation. And he's been doing that. We've seen him out golfing, out to dinner with

his family, we're not expecting him to make a lot of calls, even though a few might happen, we're told by officials.

But what he did do before he left was also a number of interviews with all kinds of media outlets. One of them is about to come out in the next 10

minutes. And in those, he's really stressing what the White House sees as a benefit of this Iran deal. And the White House is pushing that interview

today that's about to come out saying that's going to state his case again.

And one thing that we've seen is the president isn't at all backing away in these interviews from that somewhat controversial speech he gave at a

university in Washington, D.C., last week. I mean, some of his criticism of opponents was seen by people in both parties as being a little harsh.

But he's now explaining those views. He's reinforcing them, again, not trying to soften them in any way -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And, Michelle, to scuttle the deal, what will opponents have to do?

KOSINSKI: OK. Well, first, they could vote disapproval, which might happen, although there's some confidence that it won't. There's just so

many undecided members in both houses of Congress that nobody seems to really have an accurate vote count. And there are many --

[10:35:00]

KOSINSKI: -- members who aren't saying how they feel right now. Then we see dozens upon dozens of congressmen go to Israel -- it's a trip that's

paid for by a charitable arm of the group that is staunchly opposed to the deal; they're meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who may be

the most vocal person opposed in that world right now.

So might that sway some of those members? Sure.

Might it not? We're just going to have to wait and see.

But to override a presidential veto, Republicans assuming they will all vote against the deal, they would need 44 Democrats in the House to go

along with them; 13 in the Senate, although that number's changing as more and more members are stating how they're going to vote.

But that's still seen as an uphill climb and unlikely that they would get that number of Democrats to oppose the Iran deal -- Lynda.

KINKADE: OK. We'll leave it there for now. Michelle Kosinski at Martha's Vineyard, thanks for joining us.

So Israel has been a strong vocal opponent to the Iran nuclear agreement, as Michelle just mentioned. And officials there are expected to share

their concerns with a large group of American lawmakers visiting the country this week.

Oren Liebermann has the latest now from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows the opportunity he has here to try to sway some Democratic

congressmen on the Iran deal.

Netanyahu has been lobbying against the deal from the very beginning, against the framework deal, then against the final deal. Now he knows his

best chance, even if it is a very slim chance, is to try to stop this deal in Congress.

The Republicans are, for the most part, on his side; it's the Democrats he's trying to sway. He has 22 of them here. The trip itself was

organized long before we knew the Iran deal deadline would be right now. But it's impossible to ignore the significance of these two coinciding and

a critical opportunity here that Netanyahu has to try to sway some of these 22 Democrats, some of whom are considered swing votes on the Iran deal as

Netanyahu lobbies against him. President Obama from the other end lobbying for it in this very public debate playing out in the media between these

two leaders.

Netanyahu knows that if he can sway just a few of these 22 Democratic congressmen to vote against the deal, if he can swing a few of the from

pro-deal to anti-deal, then for him this visit would have to be considered a success. And that very much will likely be his mission -- Oren

Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

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KINKADE: South Korea says it will resume broadcasting anti-North Korean messages across the border after more than a decade. This comes after two

South Korean soldiers patrolling the demilitarized zone were badly wounded by suspected land mines.

Seoul says the explosives were planted by forces from the North and warns Pyongyang will pay a harsh price.

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MAJOR GENERAL KU HONG-MO, SOUTH KOREAN JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF (through translator): We strongly condemn this cowardly act which is a violation of

the armistice agreement and a non-aggression agreement between the South and the North and would be unthinkable for a nuclear missile military.

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KINKADE: North Korea hasn't commented yet although in the past, it has threatened to destroy its Seoul's speakers in the DMZ.

Still to come on the INTERNATIONAL DESK, organically grown leafy lettuce. But it wasn't harvested on Earth. We'll tell you who grew it and who's

eating it -- stay with us.

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[10:40:00]

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

Astronauts are known for their math abilities, engineering feats and voyages into the unknown. And now you can add a new skill to that list:

gardening.

For the first time, astronauts on the International Space Station will be able to eat their own space-grown lettuce for dinner. They harvest the

produce as part of a NASA plan experiment. Scientists hope astronauts will be able to grow their own food in space on a sustainable basis in order to

get some leafy sustenance for the long haul missions.

There's less than a year to go before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and sports like golf and a shortened version of rugby have been added to the

program for the first time in years. But organizers passed up the chance to include some of Brazil's favorite sports.

Shasta Darlington has a look.

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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jumping into the abyss and harnessing the wind currents, it may not be an Olympic sport but it's all

the rage in Rio. So maybe against my better judgment, I give it a try.

Oh, my god. I'm OK. OK.

Once the shock wears off, amazing views of Pedra da Gavea (ph) and Sao Conrado (ph) beach. And according to my guide, Eddie Goy Iveda (ph),

Brazilian paragliders have proposed to include it in the Olympics.

If this were an Olympic sport, we would traveling 50 kilometers from one city to another. I'm loving it but I don't know if I'd want to go 50

kilometers. That might be too much.

Finally, a smooth landing.

It was amazing, it was amazing. Once you get up there, you feel like a bird.

And we soon discover other would-be Olympic sports, like Futevolei, kind of like beach volleyball but played without using hands or arms.

Invented in Rio when football was banned from the beach.

"We're fighting to make it an Olympics sport," he says. "It's beautiful to play and to watch."

Of course, it's obvious which country would win.

Another uniquely Brazilian sport: Capoeira. Invented by African slaves to disguise martial arts as a dance, always to the twang of berimbaus, maybe

not an Olympic sport.

"It's difficult to imagine a competition with points for this or that, who wins, who loses," he says. "But it's part of our culture."

Culture that will be on display across the city in 2016 -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

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KINKADE: Well, that does it for us here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Lynda Kinkade. But don't go anywhere. "WORLD SPORT" with Christina

Macfarlane is up next.

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