Return to Transcripts main page
CNN 10
Sri Lanka Suffers From Terrorist Attacks on Easter Sunday; San Francisco Searches For A Way To Properly Manage The Rapid Growth Of Tourism
Aired April 23, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our daily events coverage on CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz, thank you for taking 10 minutes for our show. An
island country in the Indian Ocean is the scene of today`s first story.
The nation of Sri Lanka is reeling from a series of terrorist attacks that targeted churches and hotels on Easter Sunday. At least 290 people were
killed and 500 or more were injured with the coordinated attacks took place.
Most of them happened in the same timeframe between 8:45 and 9:30 on Sunday morning. Suicide bombers detonated their explosives at three churches
across the country.
At around the same time more explosions took place at three luxury hotels in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo and later on Sunday there was a blast
at a hotel near a zoo and a final explosion happened in a private house as police were raiding it in connection with the previous attacks.
Officials don`t know yet why Christians were targeted. Easter is their most important holiday but Christians are a religious minority in Sri
Lanka. They account for about 7.5 percent of the population.
Buddhist make up 70 percent. Hindus make up 12.5 percent and Muslims make up a little under 10 percent. The Sri Lanka says its concern that an
international terrorist group is behind the assault.
When we produced this show, no organization had admitted carrying them out but as Sri Lankan government spokesman says there were warnings days before
that attacks that something was going to happen and the government admitted yesterday that it failed to act on those warnings.
The Sri Lankan is on edge after a series of deadly terror attacks that ripped across parts of this country. This church, St. Anthony Shrine, one
of three Catholic churches targeted on Easter Sunday. You can still see shattered glass here.
And the clock tower frozen at roughly the time when a suicide bomber attacked during Easter Sunday prayers. And in the 24 hours since, the
authorities are not taking any chances. Look just down this road here you can see the remains of a suspicious vehicles that an explosive disposal
team detonated on Monday afternoon sending real fear through an already traumatized community.
This has been a series of deadly attacks; hundreds of people killed and wounded. There has been criticism that the security forces missed a
warning from a foreign intelligence agency about threats of suicide attacks against Catholic churches prompting one government minister to accuse some
of these security chiefs of incompetence and negligence.
And also prompting a government spokesperson to publically apologize for letting this potentially crucial data of intelligence slip through the
authority`s fingers. In the meantime, there has been no official claim of responsibility. And some of the victims are still fighting for their lives
in the intensive care units of Sri Lankan hospitals.
Some leaning (ph) U.S. law makers spend Monday reviewing the Mueller report we mentioned last week. The results of a special investigation led by
former FBI director, Robert Mueller.
The full report was released to Congress on Thursday but it had some redactions, some edits and a less edited version was given to House and
Senate leaders yesterday. One main focus of the report concerned Russia. Did the campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump illegally coordinate with
the other country to win the election.
The report said no that the Trump campaign did not collude with the Russian government. Another part of the report concerned the U.S. leader`s
actions. Did President Trump illegally interfere with the Mueller investigation and commit the crime of obstruction of justice.
The report was more vague on that. Investigators said they couldn`t conclude for sure that the president committed a crime but that they also
couldn`t conclude for sure that he didn`t. It suggested that Congress could make its own investigation into that.
How politicians reacted to all this mainly depended on what political party they`re in. President Trump and other republicans say the report
vindicates the president. That he didn`t illegally cooperate with Russia and that it`s time to move on.
Democrats have said they need to see the full Mueller report without redactions and that Congress now needs to investigate whether the president
committed obstruction of justice. We don`t know yet what the next steps will be in all this but we`ll keep you updated.
(BREAK)
Ten second trivia, which of these U.S. cities is located the farthest west? San Diego, California; Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California;
or Seattle, Washington? With 122.4 degrees west, just a tiny bit farther than Seattle is San Francisco, California.
Known as the city by the bay, San Francisco attracts tens of millions of people every year. That makes tourism the city`s biggest industry. That
industry is facing a number of challenges. Homelessness is ramped throughout San Francisco. So is drug use and the presents of drug
materials. Many of the people who`ve traveled there in recent years have complained of feeling unsafe.
Still tourism brings billions of dollars into the city every year. People marvel at the Golden Gate Bridge. They imagine what it`d be like to try to
escape from Alcatraz and some to the braver drivers test their skills on Lombard Street.
A stretch of it has a 27 degree grade with sharp curves because paving it straight up and down in 1922 would have made it too steep for the cars of
that era to climb. Lombard Street has another problem today though. The sheer number of people who want to visit it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: From draw (ph) view seven it`s easy to see why the crooked street attracts of tourist but from the ground residents have a
different perspective.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: I moved here probably two years and it was nothing like this then.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: Gray Brunges (ph) says something has to be done to deal with the massive growth of tourist especially over the past 10 years.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: Something (inaudible) that in itself is an issue.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: They have to be acutely aware of how it impacts our residents.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) solution, setting up a reservation system and charging visitors $5 to drive the crooked road.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: This is how it works; register online, pick a day and time to visit, when your number`s called .
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: A license plate reader would verify it`s your time and then enjoy the ride.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: Watch out, watch out. (Inaudible).
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: The city has tried to fix the problem in the past with new signs and traffic control but they say nothing`s worked.
UNIDIENTIFIED FEMALE: They have been unable to properly manage the crowds with the rapid growth of visitors.
UNIDIENTIFIED FEMALE: If you come this far then what`s $5?
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: But Audrey Felo (ph), who`s visiting with friends from Brazil doesn`t like the idea. He says tourist shouldn`t be paying for the
cities problem.
UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: I think this a (inaudible) thing so we should not pay for it. Like we`re here to appreciate it and enjoy your time here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: This probably isn`t what most people think of when we say robots pulling a truck. But if you remember the four legged creature like Boston
Dynamics robots and you`ve picture 10 of them marching in unison while dragging something heavy, like some robotic sled dog army, then maybe you
did have this in mind.
Not everyone who saw this YouTube video was comfortable with it. Some call the fear of robots technophobia, some say it`s robophobia (ph). For anyone
uneasy with the sight, it certainly instills some kind of phobia.
The company says it`s robot dogs will be available soon and where ever they`re trucked in, whether they`re transfer, road train, semi autonomously
wheeled somewhere of if they have to be big rigged up to something in tow, they could make a haul as long as nobodies dogged by the idea. I`m Carl
Azuz, over and out for CNN.
END
