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iDesk
Thai Police Seek Suspect from Surveillance Video; Tianjin Mourns Victims from Warehouse Blasts; Arrests Made in Bangladeshi Blogger Killings; Arming Syria's Rebels; Greek Migrant Crisis; Nelson Mandela's Grandson Charged with Rape; Desmond Tutu in Hospital; New Poll Numbers on Trump; Man Who Dressed as "Batman" Dies in Traffic Accident. Aired 10-11 ET
Aired August 18, 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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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Hi, there, and welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN Center.
Well, it's just after 9:00 pm in Bangkok, where authorities are working to identify a suspect in the deadly bomb attack that shook the city
center on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (voice-over): This video of him -- take a look here -- he's a man in a yellow shirt near the blast site. Police say he could be
connected to the bombing.
Meantime, a second blast went off today near a pier in Bangkok. No one was injured. It apparently came from a small object thrown into a
river. The pier was later closed.
The death toll from Monday's bombing is now 22; about 120 people are wounded. Andrew Stevens has more on the attack and what happened since.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another bomb goes off in Bangkok. This surveillance video shows water shooting into the air.
The bomb exploding on the Taksin Pier only a few miles away from Monday night's bomb that ripped through Central Bangkok. Thai officials are on
the hunt for this man, believed to be connected to that bombing at the shrine. The suspect seen here in this surveillance video, putting a
backpack underneath a bench and then walking away.
Newly released cell phone video captures the chaotic scene during evening rush hour on Monday, unsuspecting tourists and locals walk along a
popular footbridge before the sudden explosion below.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got up on the skywalk and that's when I hear this huge explosion. I could actually feel it and hear it. I see bodies
everywhere and the cars on fire.
STEVENS (voice-over): People waiting in traffic captured the bomb going off right in front of them, smoke and embers filled the air.
Surveillance video capturing the unprecedented large and deadly blast lighting up the night sky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw about five different ambulances screaming away from the scene. I saw there were hundreds of medics, police, fire
brigade.
STEVENS (voice-over): The bomb, claiming more than 20 lives and injuring over 100, local police believe this was a, quote, "deliberate act
of terror," targeting a Hindu shrine, a major tourist attraction in Thailand, also near a large shopping mall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It attacked a tourist site. It tells me that this group wants to hit at the economy. This did a lot of damage, especially if
there's a follow on.
STEVENS (voice-over): Thai officials telling the state-run news agency they did receive a warning of possible attacks but no specifics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Devastating. Andrew Stevens reporting there.
Now we want to bring you a first-hand account of the immediate aftermath of Monday's attack. Marko Cunningham is a paramedic for Bangkok
Free Ambulance. He was on the scene of the explosion just after it happened and he shared with us what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARKO CUNNINGHAM, PARAMEDIC, BANGKOK FREE AMBULANCE: The injuries were so serious that it was very difficult to prioritize the patients.
They were all in comatose states and with huge lacerations. And so triaging them was almost impossible. Just every single person was on top
of the list of triage.
So the people that seemed to survive were the ones that ended up underneath the dead people. So I'm guessing that the person in front of
the blast took the blast and the person behind was somehow saved.
And so we had to remove dead bodies from the living people underneath. But I've never seen injuries this bad before. I've been to a few bomb
blasts before. This bomb was particularly -- I don't know the word -- vicious. And it caused -- obviously designed to cause maximum damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Marko Cunningham there with some grim and dramatic details of what he saw as a first responder to Monday's bombing in Bangkok.
Well, it was also a somber day in Tianjin, China, as people stopped to remember those killed in last week's chemical blasts.
[10:05:00]
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CURNOW (voice-over): Firefighters there paying tribute to their fallen colleagues, many of whom were among the 114 people confirmed dead; 52
firefighters remain missing. And now authorities have detained several top executives of the company that owned the warehouse that exploded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: CNN's Will Ripley tells us people in Tianjin are worried and demanding answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The environmental consequences here in Tianjin are staggering. And this can help you put it in perspective.
These are apartments where thousands of people are supposed to be moving in in less than two months. But within sight of them, you find things like
this: this is a barrel of chemicals, an unknown chemical, propelled from the explosion late Wednesday, a chemical that has a reaction to the
rainwater, causing white steam to come up.
And we've seen this stuff lying all over here, along with other chemicals. In fact, we saw hazardous materials crews out, trying to clean
up as much as they can.
But it just underscores residents' concerns about the environmental impact. The Chinese government took us along today and showed us one of
their environmental quality monitoring stations, where they're testing the air and the soil and the water.
But for residents who have homes near the blast zone, they say those assurances that all levels are testing normally, it's just not good enough
for them. They have very serious concerns about the long-term health consequences for them and especially for those who have children.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is promising to crack down on whoever's responsible for this, given the magnitude of destruction.
Look at that, a good portion of Tianjin's bus fleet has been wiped out. And now we're learning that 10 top executives with Ruihai
International -- this is a shipping and logistics company that owned the warehouse at the center of this explosion -- they were bringing in
chemicals, storing them and then distributing them throughout China.
And now there are accusations that these chemicals were being stored in perhaps illegal quantities and that not all information was being
revealed to the proper authorities, possible charges could include abuse of power and criminal negligence. This as today marks the seventh day since
the explosion. And in Chinese tradition, it is a time for the families of the 114 at least confirmed dead and the dozens more who are missing to stop
and pay condolences to those who've been lost -- Will Ripley, CNN, Tianjin, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Moving to Indonesia now, teams have found both of the flight recorders from the Trigana airplane that crashed on Sunday and now they're
preparing to move the bodies too from the crash site in the remote Eastern Mountains. They reached the scene Tuesday after a grueling trip over
difficult terrain. None of the 54 people on board survived.
The plane went missing over the weekend with no record of a distress call.
And to Bangladesh, where police have arrested three people, including a British citizen, over the murders of two bloggers. They were long-term
newly emerged terror group with reported links to Al Qaeda. Sumnima Udas has all the developments on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After at least four Bangladeshi bloggers were brutally hacked to death in recent month, a sign authorities
are cracking down.
On Monday night, an elite security force arrested three suspected Islamist hardliners. One of them, police say, was the main planner behind
the deaths of two prominent bloggers and holds a British passport. All three arrested were allegedly members of the Ansarullah Bangla group, a
newly emerged terror outfit, which is banned by authorities in May.
Analysts say the Ansarullah Bangla is linked to the Indian subcontinent branch of Al Qaeda and is one of the most active terror groups
operating in Bangladesh right now.
Why is this happening? Well, according to terror observers in the region, there's a battle brewing between fundamentalists and secularists in
Bangladesh and these bloggers have been openly writing against Islamic extremism.
In fact, last year, the group called Defenders of Islam printed a hit list of 84 bloggers and writers it saw as opposing Islam. Some of them
have been killed. The motive is very clear: to stop secular viewpoints and send a chilling message to other bloggers exercising free thought.
Many of these young writers are now saying they're worried for their safety and that they, too, have been receiving death threats -- Sumnima
Udas, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Still ahead at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, we'll take an exclusive look inside the U.S.-funded training force aimed at fight ISIS in
Syria. It has, though, been slow going.
Plus:
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FARIS SY (PH), SYRIAN REFUGEE: No one will stay here. No one will, because we know that this country has problems, economic problems.
CURNOW (voice-over): Refugees from war-torn Syria overwhelm the tiny Greek island of Kos in a desperate search for a better life.
All that and much more here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK.
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CURNOW: Now to an attack that was especially bloody, even by the standards of Syria's civil war. A U.N. envoy has denounced Sunday's
airstrikes on a marketplace as devastating and unacceptable. Human rights observers say almost 100 people were killed and 240 wounded in the bombing.
The Syrian military says it was targeting insurgent headquarters. The government said the U.N. official showed a lack of objectivity in his
remarks.
In another part of the Syria conflict is the battle, of course, against ISIS. The U.S. has spent millions training and equipping forces to
fight the group but only a handful have been trained. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh brings us this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This bought nearly a million dollars worth of pro-American Syrian rebel, looks
like. These are the first pictures of the mere 54 moderate fighters the U.S. has painstakingly vetted, trained and equipped with these fancy
weapons.
There aren't nearly enough of them yet to worry ISIS.
In fact, some of them are recently detained by Al Qaeda after a firefight leading to claims the $41 million program is a failure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
WALSH (voice-over): So one of them, Abu Iskandar (ph), in Syria, is speaking out.
"Nearly 17,000 Syrian men wants to join. But the training is very slow. We need it to be faster. Too many days instead of 45 days. More
trainees. For example, our training in Jordan did 85. We should have been 500 there and another 500 in Turkey. We are thankful but it needs to
happen faster."
These men are in a central part of America's anti-ISIS strategy, inescapably vital. But planes can bomb and the drones can watch. But
without allied Syrian rebels willing to go on the ground and clear out ISIS and install moderate societies, everything else is pretty much pointless.
And as of now, inside Syria, we're just about 40 of them.
Here they are, entering Syria recently after training days before being attacked by rebels from the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Some of
those detained have now been released. And despite the awful start, Abu Iskandar (ph) is determined to fight on.
The Americans follow him using a GPS on his wrist and in his vest but he targets airstrikes for them.
"I got in front planning to ISIS and I give locations for the work when it bombs. We have advanced satellite communication devices to target
anyplace on the front lines, whether we see it or not.
"There are daily drones and they're on the sky as I talk to you right now. I speak for the Americans every hour a total of four hours a day."
One hurdle in recruiting for the Pentagon is that their unit is only allowed to fight ISIS. Not most Syrian rebels' first and worst enemy is
the Syrian regime. But in spite of this restriction, Abu Iskandar (ph), all the same, insists --
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WALSH (voice-over): -- he will also fight the Assad regime.
"The second wrong with the training project is that we fight whoever fights us. The Assad regime is fighting. We will take new airs from ISIS
and we'll have to (INAUDIBLE).
"Are we going to sit still and not fight Assad? They cannot fight zone in Syria then we want to take Europe, but we will stay in our homes.
We don't want to fight on TV. We want Assad regime to be stopped."
After the vetting, the detentions, the confused aims, one thing is clear: his unshakable enthusiasm for the fight against ISIS and the regime
that lies ahead -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from Beirut.
Hi, there, Nick, thanks for talking to us here at the IDESK.
I mean, this seems to be about quality over quantity.
What is the U.S. saying?
WALSH: Well, the really sure thing now is given the extraordinary slow pace of people graduating this program after that incident with the
Nusra Front, we seem to talk about 40 acts of fighters at this stage inside Syria, many are thinking, well, really how viable is this? There are
another 70 fighters due to graduate shortly and many more, as we are told, en route as well through that program. And it's gathering particular pace.
But at such a late stage, I think that clash with Nusra and the detention of some of them has made many, certainly in Washington, too, in fact,
question the program's viability.
But add on top of that, too, though, the quality issue you're referring to. These men we spoke to, that man we spoke to, extraordinarily
dedicated, the vetting does appear to have worked. And then he's very much pro-the notion of a secular Syrian society, regardless of Sunni or Shia,
wants moderate societies, quite happy to take American assistance to pursue those goals.
And at this stage, too, it does appear on the ground and we're told his role is broader than that, to be principally involved in helping target
airstrikes against ISIS. So pretty effective from what we can make out; very well equipped. And if they grow in number, potentially effective,
too. So there has been a lot of criticism of this program and its pace. But actually the finished product, as far as we can see, does seem to be
actually pretty polished -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Well equipped, not enough of them, but you can understand the United States doesn't want to make a mistake, doesn't want to train and
equip the wrong people.
So how do they deal with this?
How do they broaden this?
WALSH: Well, I think it's -- in the case of perhaps the vetting taking so long that maybe after a period of time you have more people who
are more available to you, because they've passed that process.
It's hard to know exactly what the vetting involves. It's hard for the U.S. to go back to people's home villages and totally assess their
backgrounds.
So, yes, I think there is a suggestion that in the months ahead there will be many more people available to them to put through this particular
training program. But the major question, too, is it so hard to vet somebody with 100 percent accuracy, too? I mean, there have been reports
in the past 24 hours or so that some of those detained by Nusra in fact managed to get themselves released and, in fact, it was relatives of those
detainees who managed to intervene and speak to the Nusra Front to get them out.
So you know, the notion that perhaps they might have someone in their past or their relatives, people who either could contact with the Nusra
Front may cause some who vetted them to raise an eyebrow if these reports turn out to be the case. But it's a very scattered program. And it does
seem that those who've come through and remain part of it are dedicated to a central cause, as certainly U.S. officials say that unless some
(INAUDIBLE) transgression of the policy's goals occurs, these people are considered them and they will support them going forward.
CURNOW: Nick Paton Walsh there, thank you so much, is really underscoring how complicated the Syrian conflict is. Thanks.
Now many Syrian refugees are flocking to Greece. The U.N. says close to 21,000 migrants reached Greece last week alone and 160,000 migrants have
arrived in Greece so far this year, a 400 percent increase over last year.
The island of Kos is one of the top destinations. But the welcome immigrants receive isn't always a warm one. CNN's Atika Shubert has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn breaks on the Greek holiday island of Kos and this is how the new visitors arrive,
hundreds every day on inflatable dinghies from Turkey.
This group of Syrians stumble out onto dry land, happy to have survived the night's journey, away from their war-torn homeland.
They dry their children, take off the flimsy inflatable wings they hope would keep them afloat in the open sea and take photos to send back
home.
Then they walk, past the tent city that extends along the Kos beachfront.
"We are from Syria," they announce.
Many of Kos' locals have offered food, water and washing facilities but this time overwhelmed by the numbers, residents shout at them to leave
and to register with the police.
This is where they go:
[10:20:00]
SHUBERT (voice-over): -- the new cruise ships sent in by Greece, docked to house and register Syrian refugees. They wait here for hours.
SHUBERT: Now one of the families we spoke to is finally aboard that ship. Greek authorities won't actually let us on. But they tell us that
it has the capacity for 2,500 people. In just one day of operation, more than 1,000 people are already on board. But all of the new arrivals we
have spoken to have said the cost is just the doorway to Europe.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Twenty-seven-year-old Faris Sy (ph) from Damascus wants to study physics in Germany.
SY (PH): No one will stay here. No one will, because we know that this country has problems, economic problems. We just want to go.
SHUBERT (voice-over): He admits he had hoped for better in Greece.
SY (PH): When we was there in Turkey, our hope that we make it here because for all of us, that was the 70 percent of the trip, because at sea
and it's dangerous, you know. But now after we arrive here and we saw what we saw, it's very bad here. Tell us now we cannot go back, you know. We
have to continue. So.
SHUBERT (voice-over): For families with children, Kos is a safe and secure place to rest before moving on to places like Germany.
Hannan Raad (ph) says she tried to pay for a hotel room for her family but was told there was no space. Even so, she is grateful.
HANNAN RAAD (PH), SYRIAN REFUGEE: The Greek big worry our very lives and give us money, thanks, but were our children, water and some food.
Yes.
SHUBERT (voice-over): New arrivals to Kos try to make the best of it, washing in the sea as tourists lounge in beach chairs nearby. As the
summer sun sets, tourists return to their hotels and migrants camp for another night in the open. And they watch as new arrivals come the next
morning, boat after boat, with no signs of stopping -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Kos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Powerful reporting there from Atika.
Well, you're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Still to come, a scandal affects the family of late South African icon Nelson Mandela.
Plus we've got a new poll on the Republican race for U.S. president. Find out if Donald Trump is still the front-runner.
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CURNOW: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.
A grandson of the late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, has been arrested and charged with raping a 15-year-old girl. Mbuso Mandela made a
brief court appearance yesterday but hasn't yet entered a plea.
CNN's David McKenzie is covering the story for us and he joins us from Johannesburg, South Africa.
Hi, there, Dave. What do we know?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this stage, Robyn, it's relatively few details. But we do know these are very serious charges
indeed from a senior member of the South African police service. They say that Mbuso Mandela, as you said, 24-year-old grandson of Nelson Mandela,
has been arrested and charged with rape of a minor, of a 15-year old. The charges related around what happened earlier this month, they say, in
Greenside (ph). Now that's a suburb north of Johannesburg Central, which is a popular area of bars and restaurants. Those effectively are the
details that we have. They haven't entered a plea; the lawyer of Mbuso Mandela --
[10:25:00]
MCKENZIE: -- says they are still investigating the matter. But certainly it's a very troubling charge indeed against a member of this
family, which is so famous here in South Africa of course -- Robyn.
CURNOW: What's the reaction been in South Africa?
MCKENZIE: It's interesting; there have been, of course, local media reports, international reports on this subject matter. The reaction on
Twitter and other platforms of social media where you'd normally expect South Africans to have a robust conversation on the news of today, of the
day, have been relatively muted.
You know, I think as you know, Robyn, South Africans tend to be embarrassed about any news that comes out that might sully the name of
Nelson Mandela. There's been a great deal of squabbling amongst the families after the icon's death. And also there have been members of the
family that have great legal trouble.
Mandla Mandela, who is, in some ways, the head of the family, he has, in fact, been charged and convicted of assault. And of course, Winnie
Mandela, Nelson Mandela's second wife, had numerous run-ins with the law.
All of these cases really South Africans would discuss but generally feel pretty embarrassed that they'd tarnish the legacy of Nelson Mandela,
who's viewed as a saint here in this country, even though he himself said he's not.
But this -- these charges against his grandson, of course, are very serious. On Friday, we expect him to be in court again. More likely he
will put in his plea and then the investigations will continue. But certainly troubling news for Mandela, his family here in South Africa --
Robyn.
CURNOW: You make some excellent points there. Thank you very much, David McKenzie, there in JoBurg.
Now staying in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu is back in hospital. His daughter says the 83-year old is suffering from inflammation
although she doesn't give any specifics. She says it's not related to a recent infection. This is what she had to say earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANON MPHO TUTU, DAUGHTER OF DESMOND TUTU: We are, of course, concerned. If we weren't concerned he would not be in hospital. But
that's concerned, not panicked and not anxious about his well-being.
My mom would much prefer to have him at home so that she can feed him with his favorite foods and cuddle up, but she's sort of making the trek
back and forth to the hospital and spending time with him there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Leah and Tutu have been married for about 60 years. So indeed she's obviously offering cuddles, as she said, in hospital. But
just remember, Desmond Tutu has battled prostate cancer in recent years and he also, of course, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts
to end apartheid.
Police in Bangkok are hunting for the man suspended in Monday's deadly bombing. A look at possible motives when we return to our top story.
That's next. Stay with us.
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CURNOW: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Here's a check of the headlines.
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CURNOW (voice-over): Teams in Indonesia have found both of the flight recorders from the Trigana airplane that crashed on Sunday and they're
preparing to move the bodies from the crash site in the Eastern Mountains. None of the 54 people on board the flight survived.
The wife of Indian president Pranab Mukherjee has died. First lady Suvra Mukherjee has been in hospital in New Delhi with heart and
respiratory problems. A hospital spokesman says she died of cardiac arrest. She was 74 years old.
Thai police are hunting for a man wearing a yellow shirt, highlighted here in this surveillance video. They believe he may be connected to the
bombing that killed at least 22 people near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok on Monday. Authorities are still trying to determine the man's identity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Let's get more on this. Sam Zarifi is the director of Asia Pacific operations at the International Commission of Jurists, a human
rights group. He joins me via Skype from Bangkok.
Hi, there. Thank you so much for joining the IDESK.
What's your assessment of what's playing out now, particularly the different finger-pointing as to who's to blame and what a motive might be?
SAM ZARIFI, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ASIA AND OCEANIA, INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS: This has been a horrific, unprecedented attack and,
not surprising, a lot of people want justice quickly. And one of the problems in Thailand all along has been that the institutions of justice
have been tremendously politicized.
So we've seen some footage that certainly looks very damning and our hope is that that suspect will be arrested and will be properly
investigated and we'll get to the bottom of this.
Our fear, though, is that with what we've seen is from government spokespeople, assertions of guilt and finger-pointing at various groups
without as far as we can tell really any evidentiary basis for it. And that will only go to aggravate the very serious political crisis that this
country has been suffering now for some years.
CURNOW: Aggravate -- in what way? I mean, do you see a further clampdown by the military government, for example?
ZARIFI: Well, that's certainly a possibility. You know, one of the remarkable things about Thailand under military rule has been that in fact,
for many tourists, there's almost no sign of it in Bangkok and Central Bangkok almost has no security presence. And that's something that people
have been criticizing the government for in light of what happened.
So the question is will there be a stronger security presence in the tourist areas? Of course, that would hurt tourism, hurt Thailand's image,
which is crucial at this moment when the economy is suffering.
But it shouldn't mask the fact that the government has placed very, very strong restrictions on any criticism, on any critical thought, on any
public assertions of dissidence.
So there is a great deal of worry that this attack will lead to even further clampdown on the groups that the government is already blaming, the
protesters, the so-called Red Shirts, former Prime Minister Taksin. Again, it's entirely possible that these people are connected, but it's also
entirely possible that they're not.
And what's required right now is a really -- a proper investigation that people can really trust and have faith in.
CURNOW: Indeed, a real concern and, of course, a real concern about who did this and why they did it and, you know, is there a possibility of
this happening again?
What we do have to underscore, though, is just how unusual this particular piece of violence was. You know, you referred to Thailand's
political instability and the differences and the poisonous political atmosphere. But this is different, isn't it, what happened yesterday?
ZARIFI: That's exactly right. Bangkok itself has seen very little political violence and not an explosion like this. Southern Thailand has
been suffering from an insurgency for some years and has seen several cases of IEDs, including attacks on civilians.
But the government has already ruled out any connection with the Southern insurgency. We actually -- we haven't seen any evidence other
than the government's assertion to that.
But for Bangkok, a place that really relies on foreign tourists for a great deal of its economy, this is shocking. And this was a horrific and a
horrendous attack.
[10:35:00]
ZARIFI: It really does seem like it was designed to hurt civilians, to hurt foreign tourists. We've unfortunately today seen what seems to
have been a follow-up attack, which fortunately didn't result in any casualties. So there is a great deal of pressure on the government to get
to the bottom of this for the sake of providing security and winning back the (INAUDIBLE) but also really for showing that it can address and resolve
the country's political crisis, which is, after all, the reason why the military claims it was necessary to take power last year.
CURNOW: Thank you so much for your perspective, Sam, coming to us there via Skype from Bangkok. Appreciate it.
You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Coming up, where does Donald Trump stand now in the Republican race for U.S. president? We'll have some new
poll numbers for you. Stick around for that.
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CURNOW: Donald Trump seems to be riding high on a wave of anti- establishment anger. A new CNN/ORC poll shows him as the clear front- runner in the Republican race for U.S. president.
Here are a look at some of the numbers: 24 percent of Republican voters surveyed would pick Trump as the nominee; 13 percent favor Jeb Bush;
9 percent would choose Ben Carson and 8 percent like Marco Rubio and Scott Walker. The rest drop off from there.
CNN political reporter Maeve Reston joins us now from Los Angeles with more on this.
More good news for Donald Trump.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, although you do have to keep in mind that this is so early in the process, many voters here do not
make up their mind until the last week or even the last 48 hours before those primaries that don't really get started until next February.
What we are seeing is that Donald Trump seems to be channeling a lot of voter anger on the Republican side. He certainly is better known than
many of the other Republican candidates who are running. And they really feel that he is speaking out on issues like immigration that they feel are
not being addressed in Washington, which, of course, is mired in gridlock at the moment.
But I do think that we have to see how Donald Trump will do over the course of time. He's just started putting out some policy specifics on
immigration this past weekend. And when I was at the Iowa State Fair with Trump and Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush over the weekend, I did also talk to
a lot of Republican voters who said they like Trump. He's their first choice right now, but they're still looking at four or five other
Republican candidates. And it'll be a long time before they make up their minds.
CURNOW: The question is, can he take the support and turn it into votes? It really could look very different in a year's time.
RESTON: Absolutely. And I think that you also have to remember that a lot of these other candidates are very practiced in the art of politics
here. They are working on the issues that are in the weeds, like ballot access and getting their volunteers together. Donald Trump is just
starting that process. He's doubled his team in Iowa recently.
And so we'll have to see whether his team can actually do the nuts and bolts kinds of things that these campaigns have to do to get them --
[10:40:00]
RESTON: -- across the finish line.
CURNOW: Maeve Reston, joining us from Los Angeles, thanks so much.
RESTON: Thank you.
CURNOW: His name was Lenny Robinson. But to hundreds of young people in the U.S. state of Maryland, he was just called Batman. For years,
Robinson dressed as the superhero to visit children in the hospital. He died tragically over the weekend after his beloved Batmobile broke down on
the highway.
Jessica Kartalija from CNN affiliate WJZ has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA KARTALIJA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Batman, Lenny B. Robinson loved bringing smiles to little faces, arriving in his
Batmobile to visit children in the hospital.
LENNY ROBINSON, "BATMAN": They are constantly fighting for their lives. This helps them. That's what it's all about.
KARTALIJA (voice-over): The 51-year old died Sunday when his Batmobile broke down along I-70.
This other vehicle from Virginia came through and unfortunately struck him, which caused his death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just devastating to all of us.
KARTALIJA (voice-over): Robinson paid countless visits to patients at Sinai's Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was a huge honor, that he loved Sinai Hospital; he loved the Rubin Institute. And also he loved our patients.
KARTALIJA (voice-over): A resident of Owings Mills, he started and sold his own cleaning business. Years later, he would buy the costume and
cars and transform into the superhero, a favorite of his three children.
RACHAEL FOOTE, RAIO PATIENT: Even though they are his immediate family, we are a family here and he was such a big part of it.
KARTALIJA (voice-over): Rachael Foote is a RAIO patient.
FOOTE: He talks to all the kids individually and gives them words of encouragement.
KARTALIJA (voice-over): Robinson went viral three years ago when he was pulled over by Montgomery County police when he forgot to take off his
Batman tags en route to a children's hospital.
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CURNOW: What a good man. That was Jessica Kartalija reporting and a spokesman from the police department that pulled over Robinson says that
traffic stop video that you saw at the end of her piece is replayed with smiles and laughter and that the officers consider Robinson a real
superhero.
Well, that does it for us here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. But don't go anywhere. "WORLD SPORT" with Christina Macfarlane is
up next.
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