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Hala Gorani Tonight
Chaos in Eastern European Train Station; Name Change for U.S.'s Highest Peak; Kanye West 2020. Aired 3-4p ET.
Aired August 31, 2015 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:11] HALA GORANI, HOST: Tonight chaos in an eastern European train station.
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GORANI: As some migrants scramble onto trains headed further into the EU's passport free zone. Their dangerous journey far from over.
Then a name change for the United States' highest peak. Find out what else the American President plans to do in Alaska.
And later Miley Cyrus was relatively tame as the host of the MTV Video Music Awards but wait until you hear what Kanye West announced.
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GORANI: Hello everyone I'm Hala Gorani, we're live at CNN London. Very diverse stories this evening, this is The World Right Now.
Europe's migrant crisis is reaching a dramatic crescendo at at least one train station in the eastern part of the continent.
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GORANI: Hungary allowed Syrian and Iraqi refugees to board trains toward Austria and Germany today but at least one was stopped at the Austrian
border hundreds of people were taken off the train.
Hungary says the confusion is Germany's fault for telling refugees it will welcome them.
Arwa Damon is at the starting point of this leg of the journey in Budapest.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On Monday morning those who were selling train tickets here at the Budapest train station
told Syrians and Iraqis that if they could prove their nationalities they would be allowed to board the trains to Austria and Germany. And we heard
them also being told that they would be reaching their final destinations. And that caused a feeling of euphoria amongst those that have been left to
languish here for days a scramble to buy tickets, people cramming themselves onto the trains filling in every single inch of space desperate
to get out of Hungary.
They're very upset because they've been waiting for so long just to get on this train and now it's over packed, it's over crowded, they weren't able
to find seats. They're saying that there's people that haven't reserved tickets.
People are still asking if they can travel with just their Syrian ID and what we've been told here is that yes, they should be able to make it and
get on these trains. The reason why everyone is in such a panic to just cram on the train and get out of here is there is this fear amongst all
that this opportunity that they have to actually be able to leave might go away very, very quickly and no-one wants to get stuck here anymore.
This train for Munich is leaving and all of its passengers who have been waiting here for days are just hoping that this is going to be the start of
their journey, their dream of a better life.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Budapest.
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GORANI: And I've just received information from the team on the ground that train you just saw carrying Syrian refugees, Iraqi refugees as well
apparently has been allowed out of Hungary into Austria. Its final destination is Germany, what will happen there we don't know but we do know
that that train was not stopped at the borders, this information from a source on the train right now saying that train has left Hungary.
Let's continue with our special migrant coverage. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says European nations must share the burden of the crisis through
what she calls a fair distribution of refugees.
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GORANI: She says Europe must develop a unified policy or its passport free travel zone could be endangered even.
Current rules require asylum seekers to remain in the first European country they enter while their papers are being processed. So often times
that's of course Greece and Italy. Mrs. Merkel today said that regulation "no longer works the way it once did."
Let's bring in Atika Shubert for more, she is live in Berlin.
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GORANI: So Atika let's talk a little bit more about the possible rule change here. How could things be different in the future?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well it's really about finding a legal route for these refugees to reach the destinations
where they hope to build a new life, for many of them it's Germany. And what Germany has done has really thrown open the doors and said we will
take more Syrian and Iraqi refugees. We're willing to take up to 800,000 more than four times it has in previous years.
And by doing so, by saying that the old rules aren't working and they're willing to process refugees here in Germany, it really not only leaves the
charge here in Europe but also forces the issue.
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[15:05:09] SHUBERT: As the walls go up to keep migrants out so to political divisions are mounting across the European Union. Hungary's
decision to erect razor wire fencing along its Serbian border condemned by France.
LAURENT FABIUS, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER: (As translated) Hungary is part of Europe which has values and we do not respect those values by putting up
fences that we wouldn't even use for animals.
SHUBERT: The Hungarian government has defended the (borderfication) saying as a member state it has an obligation to protect what is effectively the
European border. The fence is doing little to stop migrants from taking ever desperate measures to reach that sanctuary.
JOEL MILLMAN, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION: You know our view on the wall building is that this is an around about substitute to the
smugglers that if you create a barrier they'll just charge the people they're transporting more money to get around that barrier.
SHUBERT: To that end Austria has now introduced new security checks along its borders after 71 dead migrants were discovered in a lorry late last
week.
HELMUT MARBAN, BURGENLAND POLICE: These smugglers use different forms of transportation. We had here a case in (Nikistoff) where a smuggler used a
normal van usually transporting seven persons but there were 12 persons in it including three little children.
SHUBERT: An unprecedented number of migrants continue to reach EU borders. Germany alone expects to receive four times as many asylum seekers this
year which has led to violent protests.
Angela Merkel has called for tolerance as more migrants are expected to arrive.
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: (As translated) That will be a central challenge not only for days or months but for a long period of time. And
that's why it's important that while we are saying that German efficiency is great what we need now is German flexibility.
SHUBERT: The French Prime Minister also made a show of tackling the crisis on Monday announcing a new migrant camp and calling for a Europe wide
migrant policy. The unified stance that leaders are under increasing pressure to find when they meet for emergency talks on September 14th.
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SHUBERT: Now you saw some of that footage of violent protests of anti- immigration protests in Germany but the fact is there have been a tremendous outpouring of support even welcoming parties for refugees here
in Germany in a number of villages that actually want to see migrants being taken in.
So it's very much a mixed picture here.
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SHUBERT: And of course the real question is over the long term who's going to pay for all this. Angela Merkel is hoping to hold an emergency summit
with other EU nations in two weeks to come up with a unified solution to this crisis Hala.
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GORANI: All right a summit in Brussels on September 14th. We'll see what comes out of that.
Atika Shubert is in Berlin. Thanks very much.
Germany has eased the rules for some refugees seeking asylum effectively waving what is called the Dublin regulation. This is a rule under which
refugees are supposed to stay in the first European country they arrive in until their asylum claims are processed.
We're seeing just with the train situation in Hungary that that is being eased. This practice has left thousands of migrants though stranded in
Greece and Italy. The Italian Foreign Minister said this protocol has long needed to be changed.
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PAOLO GENTILONI, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The so called Dublin Regulation was made 25 years ago and the situation was quite different. Now we have a
huge phenomenon of migration and we will have this phenomenon for the next 10 to 20 years.
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GORANI: All right, there you hear from the Italian Foreign Minister. But what about Hungary? Eastern Europe has really been at the front lines of
this crisis, we've seen it with some absolutely tragic and dramatic images for instance at the Hungarian/Serbian border.
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GORANI: Refugees crowded on trains headed for Austria and Germany as well. The Hungarian government says it's just enforcing the rules and that the
rules require documents to travel onward into the EU.
Some reports today said that the only paperwork some refugees had were identity cards from Syria or Iraq.
We're joined now by Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman for the Hungarian Government, he's in Budapest.
Mr. Kovacs, thanks for being with us. I'm sure you heard the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius did not mince his words.
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GORANI: He said that the Hungarians are building fences, that they do not respect European values, these fences wouldn't even be used for animals he
said. How do you react to the French Foreign Minister's statements on your Governments building of a fence to keep refugees out.
[15:10:05] ZOLTAN KOVACS, HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: Well I believe there is no place for any kind of double standard.
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KOVACS: Just take a look at what they've built in Calais, trying to protect their channel tunnel. Again there are rules which should be kept.
It is completely unacceptable that people come to the European Union, come to Hungary, without the ability of the European Union - the union to
identify them. And also in an uncontrolled manner through Hungarian borders at will.
We have to stop that, we have to re-establish rules, law and order, the rules that are established by again European standards. Without that
Germany, Austria, and all the western European countries would face the very same challenge we are facing at the moment.
We have reached as of today 154,000 illegal migrants coming through again at will through our borders.
GORANI: But some would say you're not being very sympathetic, you're saying it's unacceptable that refugees arrive without paperwork, these are
people fleeing violence, war, barrel bombs, ISIS. If they don't have the proper paperwork it's not their fault, that they deserve at least to be
heard. Does Hungary not agree with that?
KOVACS: We do of course agree with that and we are going to provide all the necessary circumstances and equipment to be able to provide real
identity for these people. But honestly that's one major problem we have to face that these people, at least until the Hungarian border, came
without papers or get rid of the papers. And at the end of the day it's basically impossible to determine whether they are telling the truth if
they are coming Syria or other war zones.
So that's why up until their identity has been established we cannot say anything else but that they are illegal migrants. And it's the best
interest actually of those migrants who are coming or willing to come to Europe that their identity, that purposes, are being established at the
very beginning.
So that's - there can be some kind of regulation, some kind of discipline put into this irregular flow of illegal migrants.
GORANI: Now who is Hungary allowing on these trains? Because by the way our reporter on the ground was told by a source on one of those trains
leaving Budapest full of Syrian and Iraqi refugees that that train was allowed out of Hungary presumably onto Austria, and then possibly Germany.
Are you establishing a system where only Iraqis and Syrians are allowed on the train? Or how are you determining who gets to go on the train?
KOVACS: Well at this point it is basically impossible to establish a system like that because establishing identity is a long procedure, usually
taking rather months than weeks.
Therefore it is impossible within days within their arrival to Hungary to establish whether they are entitled for asylum and refugee status. So what
we can do is to let only those people to board a train who have proper papers according to the European rules. And that's why what they are
facing actually at the Hungarian/Austrian border and news are coming from the Austrian/German border that Germany and Austria is (feeding off),
setting off again illegal migrants, trying to stop them at their borders.
GORANI: Can I ask you about the fence itself? Today we saw images of refugees climbing over this fence that Hungary is building. So is it
effectively just a waste of your time and your money to build it?
KOVACS: No I'm afraid this is not a waste of time and waste of money but the only means and tools at the hands of the Hungarian Government to do
something with illegal migration.
We would rather channel these people through the official crossing points and obviously you can shot images as of today because the fences aren't
finished yet. It's only the first phase that has been done. The second and final phase of the fences is a couple of weeks away and obviously the
debate in Hungarian Parliament this week, Thursday and Friday, is going to provide another line, that is the third line of defense reinforcing, making
it stricter regulation on human smuggling that is human traffickers and also illegally crossing borders are trying to destroy that.
GORANI: The Hungarian Government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs is joining us live from Hungary in Budapest. Thanks very much for being with us this
evening for your perspective.
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GORANI: For some of the more fortunate migrants there is joy at the end of the road.
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GORANI: Take a look at this video posted on social media reported from a bus carrying Syrian refugees into a small town in Northwestern Germany.
This is the view from inside the bus, outside the bus more than 100 people turned out with signs, banners, waves and smiles to welcome them. And the
town turned an old school building into a housing facility for them. The migrant who recorded this posted it with a simple word, thank you Germany.
And you do see some heartwarming stories like this because it is war, destruction, it is very awful and terrible things that people are fleeing.
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[15:15:01] GORANI: But sometimes they get to their endpoint and they see this, a sentiment echoed elsewhere online people using the hashtag refugees
welcome.
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GORANI: Football fans took pictures such as these during the weekend and posted them on social media. Some even set up a Facebook page entitled
hope not hate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it makes her proud that people are coming out in support of refugees.
By the way I've posted some of these photos on my Facebook page, facebook.com/Halagoranicnn. I've had a lot of response from you actually
because it is heartwarming. Even if there are pockets of resistance, even if some people are unhappy in the end being able to identify those
heartwarming happier stories is always welcome.
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GORANI: Still to come tonight a lot more going on in Ukraine.
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GORANI: Furious protestors here have now turned deadly. We'll explain what is sparking these demonstrators, who the government is blaming for the
violence.
And Alaska bound; President Obama prepares to push his climate change initiative when we come back.
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GORANI: Ukraine's government says a soldier has been killed and at least 122 other people are injured in violent protests that erupted outside the
parliament building, take a look.
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GORANI: The Interior Ministry says demonstrates in Kiev threw explosives at officers. The clashes began when law makers advanced a bill that
granted greater autonomy to Ukraine's separatist regions in the east. Ukraine's President angrily slammed right wing nationalists for the
violence.
PETRO POROSHENKO, UKRANIAN PRESIDENT: (As translated) Thanks to the Diplomatic efforts last week including my direct involvement during the
visit to Brussels it has been three days in a row where not a single shot from the heavy artillery was fired on the front line. It has been three
days were not a single Ukrainian soldier was killed in action. On the other hand someone kills defenders of the homeland here in Kiev for the
sake of advertising their party banners and several seats in a district council. Whose plans do the so called patriots fulfill today? The answer
is obvious.
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GORANI: The Ukrainian President. In just about two hours from now the U.S. President, Barack Obama is expected to arrive in Alaska to address
climate change. He says that if nothing is done temperatures there are predicted to rise between 6 and 12 degrees by the end of this century.
Bear in mind that scientists say that 2 degree Celsius is the tipping point for global climate change.
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GORANI: But the President's first action is not about climate but about North America's highest mountain. The U.S. is officially changing the name
of Alaska's Mount McKinley to Denali. That is the name indigenous people in the state have historically used but is now official.
[15:20:07] Our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta is in Anchorage and joins us live with more.
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GORANI: Why is this an important trip for the U.S. President at this stage of his presidency Jim?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Hala, I talked to a White House official who said this was a signature trip of the Obama
Presidency because of how important President Obama believes this of climate change is.
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ACOSTA: Not only to the United States but to the entire world. He is on his way to Alaska right now to deliver what the White House believes to be
an urgent message on climate change. Secretary of State John Kerry by the way he's here in Anchorage right now echoing what the administration is
saying and echoing what many Alaskan's are seeing here that glaciers are melting, the state is experiencing record high temperatures. They've had
one of their worst wild fire seasons in years. Scorchings of 5 million acres of land that's roughly the same size as the state of Massachusetts.
And Hala, we sat down with Secretary Kerry ahead of this conference that's happening here in anchorage on this issue and asked him about Republican
opposition of the President's climate agenda in Washington, people like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. They don't even think climate change is
happening or at the very least that human kind is contributing to it.
And we asked the Secretary about that and here's what he had to say.
How do you take on an issue when the other side doesn't agree its happening.
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well that's one of the reasons - that's one of the reasons that we're in Alaska because it's pretty hard.
Ask any Alaskan. I think people in Alaska will tell Donald Trump and tell Ted Cruz its happening. And all they have to come - do is come here and
open their minds and their eyes, and their ears, listen, look and they will see the impacts of what is happening.
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ACOSTA: Now the President will be seeing some of the effects of climate change first hand during his trip here to Alaska this week. He plans to
tour one of the melting glaciers near Anchorage by land and by sea.
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ACOSTA: And then later on this week he will travel to Northern Alaska where he'll become the first U.S. President to visit the arctic. He'll
hear from fisherman who are seeing their livelihoods threatened by climate change, whole communities Hala having to relocate because of global
warming. And the administration believes, the White House believes, the President believes that Alaska is sort of the canary and the climate
coalmine and as goes Alaska, so goes the rest of the world potentially.
And so they want to get that message out there what they consider to be an urgent message out there to just about everybody around the world this week
if they can do that. Hala?
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GORANI: All right, we'll see if that message is heard. Jim Acosta is travelling with the President, live in Anchorage, Alaska.
Global warming is also presenting new opportunities but also international rivalries. As this arctic ice melts it is making it easier to access more
natural resources and Russia wants a bigger slice of that.
CNN's Matthew Chance has more.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On state control television Russia projecting its power into the Arctic. In recent months
the Kremlin has staged some of its biggest ever military exercises in the region deploying a newly created arctic brigade raising concerns this could
be the next frigid flashpoint in its standoff with the west.
Do you know the Kremlin's ambitions better than Artur Chillingarov, Russia's top arctic explorer, and President Putin's special advisor on
arctic affairs.
ARTUR CHILLINGAROV, RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR ON ARCTIC AFFAIRS: (As translated) It's our home, the arctic is Russia's home. Lots of our
regions are up there, we are the arctic country. We're in favor of international cooperation but of course we care about Russia's security
too.
CHANCE: Security and resources along with the other Northern countries with arctic territories including the United States Russia is acutely aware
of the vast potential beneath the melting ice. Up to a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas, but also the lucrative new trade groups
opening up as the polar icecap recedes.
It was Chillingarov who led a Russian expedition to the arctic seabed in 2007 to stake the country's claim to a vast swathe of polar territory. In
recent weeks Russia has resubmitted to the UN its claim of sovereignty. The issue has struck a nationalist chord among many Russians.
How far will Russia go to enforce its claim over the arctic? I mean we've seen increased militarization, some former soviet bases have been opened
up, there have been big military maneuvers in the arctic region. Is this a region where you see the potential for conflict in the future?
[15:25:00] CHILLINGAROV: No, no, no there shouldn't be any conflicts in the arctic. There's a mutual understanding in the international community
that is developing fast and I believe will develop even further.
CHANCE: But protection of its arctic interests is emerging as a major Kremlin theme and one which could easily draw Russia and its arctic
neighbors into conflict.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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GORANI: Coming up.
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GORANI: A South Korean village almost became a war zone just days ago. We look at life for people on the edge of the world's most militarized border
with a special report.
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GORANI: Here's a look at the markets, there was a lot of drama in stock markets around the world last week and we're down again on this Monday for
the Dow Jones 126 to the downside at 16,516.
Here's a look at the other indices, also lower across the region in Europe for you. And it was a mixed picture as you can see the FTSE 100 managed a
nine tenths of a percent gain.
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GORANI: A week ago it seemed North and South Korea were on the brink of all-out war, an artillery shell launched from the North sent residents of a
town in the south into underground shelters.
It's something they've practiced before, but this time it was no drill.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the very end of South Korea sits Jung Myeon village, a tiny farm town on the edge of the world's most
heavy militarized border.
North Korea is only a few miles away, its threat of war becoming an act of war. A North Korean artillery shell launched across the DMZ last week
landing so close to this village.
The Government ordered the 210 residents into two underground bunkers. South Korea's military usually hidden in their hills readied for attack.
Two Koreas at the brink of battle.
Days later a temporary truce in place between the Koreas, (Inaudible) and wife (Inaudible) return to life at their store. It's a hard life. Their
shelves don't need to be stocked because no-one's buying. The young tired of life here left.
I hear boom, boom all the time she says, you become immune to it.
You don't think that North Korea will hurt you?
This last time was different she explains. We've done the evacuation drills again, and again, but this is the first time we've actually had to
evacuate.
This bomb shelter has a giant glass door, it is solid steel you can see how thick it is. We're a couple dozen feet underground and its solid concrete
right above us. The Government says that this could withstand a direct hit from most North Korean artillery.
A hundred people can fit in here and the last time the town evacuated they were in here for five days.
I heard the North Korean gun fire that day says (inaudible). He led his town's evacuation.
Why stay here? Why stay in this town? I'm not anxious and I've never thought of leaving he says calmly. I'm determined to protect my town.
People in Seoul asked me how do you live here? If they're going to hit anything it's going to be Seoul. If there really is another Korean war she
says, we'll all day. Seoul sits within North Korea's artillery range as well. They just ignore how close that threat is. This border town can't.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Jung Myeon, South Korea.
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GORANI: Coming up the stakes are high in Palmyra.
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GORANI: Where ISIS is targeting Syria's most iconic temple. We'll have the latest on what we know about the bell temple.
Plus later on the front runners in the U.S. Presidential race are getting some competition in one of the key states. We'll have details on that
coming up.
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[15:31:26] GORANI: This is The World Right Now, here's a look at your top stories and we start with the migrant crisis.
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GORANI: Hundreds of refugees have now arrived in Munich on a train travelling from Hungary. German authorities say they expect two more
trains overnight. In an unexpected move today Hungary allowed Syrian and Iraqi refugees to board trains bound for Germany and Austria.
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GORANI: Among the other top stories we're following Ukraine's government as violence protests have left one soldier dead and at least 122 others
injured.
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GORANI: Demonstrators clashed with police outside parliament that's because lawmakers inside the building gave an initial backing a measure
allowing more autonomy to war torn separatists regions.
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GORANI: Reports say the Temple of Bell in Palmyra, Syria is still standing despite reports of an explosion inside the walls of the temple caused by
ISIS on Sunday.
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GORANI: The 2,000 year old site has been called the most important temple in Syria.
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GORANI: Thailand is looking for two more people in connection with that deadly bombing at a Bangkok Shrine.
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GORANI: Police say the latest suspects are a Thai woman and a so far unidentified man. You see there composite picture of the man on the left.
Our Kristie Lu Stout has been following this story for us from Hong Kong.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the first time Thai police has named a suspect who they believe was involved in the deadly bomb
attack at a popular Bangkok shrine.
(Inaudible) they have identified this woman as 26 year old Wanna Suansan, they say that she is originally from a province in southern Thailand.
Wanna is believed to have lived with this man. Police have not revealed his name only saying that he is a foreigner, they did not say what country
he is from.
Arrest warrants have been issued for these two new suspects. Wanna's mother has told police that her daughter left Thailand two months ago and
is currently in Turkey with her husband.
The blast at the Erawan Shrine on August the 17th killed 20 people and wounded more than 120. In addition to that attack Police say the suspects
are believed to also be connected to an explosion at a pier in Bangkok the following day.
2 weeks since that attack only one suspect is in police custody, a foreigner arrested on Saturday after police say that they found bomb making
material in his room. The man denies any involvement in the blast at the shrine and the pier but police believe he is part of a network behind the
explosions.
The chief suspect however remains at large. This man caught on closed circuit video at the Erawan Shrine moments before the blast.
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LU STOUT: Police have not revealed much information about the prime suspect only saying that he is also a foreigner. Their investigation and
manhunt continues for the people at least 10 police say that carried out the Thai capital's deadliest attack in recent years.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
GORANI: As we've reported ISIS may have set its sights on destroying yet another historic temple in Palmyra, Syria and one that is much more
important and significant.
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GORANI: This time the iconic temple of Bel which dates back 2,000 years is certainly in danger. Reports say it was rocked by an explosion inside of
its walls on Sunday. But the antiquities chief in Syria says witnesses are reporting that the columns of the temple are still standing. He says
it's the most important temple in Syria and one of the most important in the entire Middle East.
This follow ISIS' complete destruction of another of Palmyra's gems, the Temple of Baal Shamin. New satellite images by the way sadly confirm that
it was destroyed.
[15:35:04] Take a look at these before and after satellite photos from the United Nations. The first of Palmyra was taken in June, the temple is
circled there. Now look at this image taken just a few days ago, clearly there is no more structure standing there, it has been reduced to rubble.
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GORANI: Let's discuss more of Palmyra's significant not just to Syria but to the world. I'm joined by Diana Darke. She's a cultural expert on the
Middle East and Syria, and she's also the author of a book called "My House in Damascus: An inside view of the Syrian Revolution." Thanks for being
with us.
You've visited Palmyra many times I'm sure. You lived in Syria. When you think of the Temple of Bel and the fact that potentially it could be
damaged beyond repair, what goes through your mind?
DIANA DARKE, MIDDLE-EAST CULTURAL EXPERT: This is like the destruction of Syria's entire cultural identity. It represents the blend of the Temple of
Bel represents Syria to me more than any other building.
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DARKE: It's just iconic. Probably the most iconic building in Syria.
GORANI: And when we say this is Syrian heritage it in fact is the world's heritage. This is a 2,000 year old structure that spans centuries and
centuries of important world history.
DARKE: Of course it does, that's right it's always stood on the crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Mesopotamia. And it does represent this
cultural fusion between Rome on its fringes and the oriental influences.
GORANI: But thankfully we're hearing, well thankfully I don't know if we should say that I mean obviously the other smaller temple has been
completely destroyed but even though an explosion reportedly has gone off inside the walls that at least the columns are still standing.
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DARKE: Personally I suspect this is just a hiatus in what's going on. You know I mean I'm sure you're familiar with it but it has huge the sacred
precinct of Bel is massive, absolutely gigantic and it has very high 20 meter walls surrounding it. And that would block any sight of what's
happening to the inner shrines and temples which are a freestanding building. And I suspect what they're doing is blowing it up piecemeal. I
mean and there are now reports coming out that they're booby trapping the rest and it's just a question of when they choose to flip the switch and
get maximum publicity from all this.
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GORANI: You know when I was discussing with my team covering this story of course we can't go to Palmyra it's held by ISIS and has been since May.
But I was trying to explain the significance - and I believe this is the Amphitheatre, it's not the temple, but I was trying to explain the
significance of the Temple of Bel. And when you think of buildings like the Acropolis or like I mean those buildings - I mean imagine those going
down in a pile of rubble.
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GORANI: It is as significant.
DARKE: It's on that scale, it is like the Acropolis if you like yes. I mean it is - this is the high point of any visit to Syria. I mean within -
even within Palmyra this is the jewel of Palmyra. And to imagine that that could be destroyed is - it is you know beyond belief but .
GORANI: . you truly mourn I mean the smaller temple was one thing. I thought to myself if this one could just be spared, maybe at least we could
go on. I mean you know - but the fact the first reports that perhaps an explosion went off inside the perimeter and because it's so difficult to
confirm information but you were telling me you wrote the - you were in Syria when the revolution first started in 2011. How long had you lived
there?
DARKE: Well I bought my house in the old city of Damascus in 2005. And I'd been visiting Syria since the 1970s. I mean I know it over a very long
period of time. And so yes I watched the gradual decline and I just can't believe that here we are, four and a half years later, so many people dead,
so many people disappeared into Asaad's prisons. And waves of - you know refugees fleeing out of the country from barrel bombs. I mean most of them
are not fleeing ISIS, they're fleeing you know the Asaad barrel bombs.
And here we talking about a temple. I mean this is - this is the thing that almost makes me angry. That you know we - it seems that we relate to
these alright they are priceless but they are essentially you know stones. And it's as if we can relate to this better than we can to the sheer level
of suffering that people are going through.
GORANI: Right. I mean in a way also as well it is such a symbol of what is Syria and the faceless hoards perhaps more difficult for people who
don't know Syria to relate to. I mean there is also that.
But you're still in touch with people inside the country obviously and you travel back and forth?
DARKE: Yes, of course, yes. And I've got friends who are making the migrant journey, the refugee journey. You know have come across on boats
and are claiming asylum in Germany.
GORANI: That's true. Well I think anyone who knows Syrians knows at least one who's had to flee and seek refuge abroad.
Diana Darke, thanks very much we appreciate your time in joining us to talk about Palmyra and what the world is losing by the way not just Syria as we
were mentioning.
[15:40:11] Now to the U.S. Presidential race. A significant change in the Presidential race.
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GORANI: The controversial businessman Donald Trump has lost his lead in the key state of Iowa. According to the latest poll he's tied at 23%
support with the Neurosurgeon, Ben Carson. We're not seeing any Jeb Bush ranking here anywhere near the top.
The Democratic frontrunner Hilary Clinton also appears to be losing some steam. Her advantage of her main rival Bernie Sanders has been cut to just
seven percentage points.
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GORANI: Let's discuss this with CNN's senior political reporter Stephen Collinson, he joins us live from Washington.
Stephen first let's talk about Donald Trump. He's now neck and neck with Ben Carson what's - in Iowa, what's going on?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It's very interesting. You often find in these Presidential nominating contests that each
candidate has a little moment in the sun, a boom and bust cycle if you like and I think we might be seeing that with Ben Carson.
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COLLINSON: He's the absolute anti-dote to Donald Trump. Where Donald Trump is bombastic and loud and very sort of egotistical. Ben Carson is
very quiet, he's intellectual, he's a Pediatric Neurosurgeon and I think in that sense he's quite a good fit with the conservative voters of Iowa which
holds the first nominating contest next February for both the Democratic and Republican Presidential races. So he's very conservative, Ben Carson.
He's a good fit with Evangelical voters in Iowa.
So I think it's quite likely we might see him you know get some more of the media spotlight and that will help him perhaps increase his ratings across
the rest of the country.
GORANI: But does this mean that finally we're starting to see support for Donald Trump erode here?
COLLINSON: I don't think so. You know the pundits in Washington have been expecting the Donald Trump bubble to burst for months now and this is one
distinct state, it's a very conservative state. Donald Trump is still monopolizing the media coverage. He's still miles ahead in all the
national polls and the local polls. But you know this could be a first sign that his act is starting to wear a little bit thin.
And I think what's going to happen as we get closer to the election, we're still six months away from the first voting in these nominating contests,
people are going to start to look at Donald Trump and they're going to say is he a potential President rather than some you know entertaining side
show that helps channel the anger of voters against Washington.
So nothing's set in stone yet but Donald Trump still is the national frontrunner at this point at least.
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GORANI: And let's look to the left now. Bernie Sanders nipping at the heels of Hilary Clinton. Would she be worried about this do you think at
this stage of the race?
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COLLINSON: In the national picture Hilary Clinton is still a long way ahead of Bernie Sanders, he's a socialist senator from Vermont. He's
considered by most people too left wing to be able to be elected U.S. President. But he's harnessed a real anti-Washington insurgent feeling of
anger that parallels the anger in the Republican field which has - which has helped the rise of Donald Trump.
You know Iowa is very significant because it's the first you know first caucus in the nominating contents. It has great symbolic value because of
that. And for Hilary Clinton remember the last time around she was the prohibitive frontrunner until just a month or so before the Iowa caucuses
and she lost to Barack Obama. So anything to do with Iowa and declining poll ratings and her status as a frontrunner being eroded, she's only seven
points ahead of Bernie Sanders now, is something that's not going to sit very well with her campaign.
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GORANI: All right, Stephen Collinson, thanks very much. CNN's Senior Political Reporter is joining us live from Washington.
This is The World Right Now. Up next we take you to some sordid streets in Los Angeles.
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GORANI: Find out how pimps are actually making it easier to identify their prostitutes. We'll be right back.
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[15:46:16] GORANI: Children sold for sex and branded by their pimps, it is a disgusting thought but a terrifying reality for a surprising number of
victims in Los Angeles.
Our Sara Sidner met some of the girls who have been saved from the streets but left with a permanent reminder of their nightmare.
Her five part series is the latest reporting in the Freedom project, CNN's ongoing effort to expose human trafficking. Take a look at the first
installment of Sara's special report.
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RON FISHER, SERGEANT, LAPD: There's two girls standing on the corner up here monitoring traffic so they're aggressively hitting up cars out here in
the street.
I got a good shot of it right now both of them could go so we can all burn on this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, you heard him boys, let's go.
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They've been called all sorts of names over the years from ladies of the night to prostitutes but
when they're underage police now have a different name for them.
LILLIAN CARRANZA, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have come a long way in recognizing that these children's' are victims, they are not the
suspects.
SIDNER: These days one of the surest ways to tell that a person has been trafficked, the marks on their bodies.
FISHER: The tattoos tell the story if they've been around long enough.
SIDNER: On patrol with LAPD's Van Nuys Vice unit, Sergeant Ron Fisher says it's common to see girls with brands that signify ownership.
FISHER: The typical tattoos that a pimp will use are dollar signs. You'll have a tattoo of a money bag, they'll have a crown that stands for the
whole pimping thing.
SIDNER: Police say the girls rarely come to them for help instead it's when they get arrested that intervention sometimes happens.
That is how this 15 year old found refuge from her traffickers. Vice cops getting her to a safe house called "Children of the Night."
What were you afraid of?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was scared he might kill me or he might kill my dad `cause he always used threats like that and he always had guns and. There
was just gangs - gang relations so it was really hard to avoid him. I was scared.
SIDNER: At 13 when she should have been worried about homework she was being branded, bought and sold by a friend of her drug addicted father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I didn't really know how to (fix) people because I was really young and I had never had sex before.
SIDNER: So you were a virgin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So and then he's like he's going to teach you what to do and everything and I just went with it `cause I thought OK this is the
lifestyle I'm going to live for the rest of my life.
SIDNER: So she thought nothing of the tattoo he insisted on giving her. His initials on her ankle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One day he was like I tattoo all my girls so they took out Indian ink and a needle and he just did it.
SIDNER: The mark of slavery.
LOIS LEE, ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACTIVIST: That's not the way kids see it, they belong to somebody, it's important to them, someone's claimed me.
SIDNER: Anti-trafficking activist, Lois Lee knows how they think. For more than 30 years her organization, Children of the Night, has been a safe
haven for sex trafficked children.
She says on the street new laws targeting sex traffickers have had some unintended consequences.
LEE: There's fewer children prostituting because the gangs control them and they serve less time for using them for other kinds of crimes so why
would you use them for sex if you could get life in prison, or 20, 40, 60, 80 years for torture and kidnapping. Go use them for a burglary, use them
for a carjacking, give them a gun so you don't go to jail.
[15:50:13] SIDNER: But the result is the same. The kids are stuck in a horrible life.
LEE: There should be a law that anyone who uses a child in any kind of crime suffers the same penalties as if they used them for human sex
trafficking.
SIDNER: Lee said as horrible as that life may be far too often the nightmare begins at home where girls are sexually abused or neglected
making life as a trafficker seem more alluring.
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GORANI: And be sure to join us tomorrow at this time for part two of Sara Sidner's special report.
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GORANI: You'll hear from this vivacious young woman who's seen too much in her short seventeen years. She says she was sold a dream that never came
true. And she's now left with a brand that will never let her forget.
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GORANI: Coming up, he was Hollywood's king of screams.
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GORANI: The man who re-imagined the horror genre, Wes Craven, has died. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: MTV has once again proved its video music awards is much more than giving out little statues, it's all about the show, it's all about the
provocation. Superstars Taylor Swift shocked no one though by taking home video of the year for Bad Blood. But that's OK because there were lots of
other things that shocked viewers instead.
Host Miley Cyrus wore several bizarre outfits and even found herself in the middle of a verbal feud with rapper Nicki Minaj. Kanye West meanwhile was
presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. But it's what he said during his acceptance speech that has people talking.
KANYE WEST, SINGER: I don't know what I can lose after this it don't matter though `cause it ain't about me, it's about ideas bro', new ideas,
people with ideas, people who believe in truth. And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment I have decided in 2020 to run for
President.
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GORANI: Actually I didn't get that all. Senior media correspondent Brian Stelter joins me know live from our New York Bureau.
So Brian with Donald Trump running and leading in the Republican field, I mean who's to say Kanye West won't actually do really well in 2020 and we
could have Kim Kardashian as a First Lady.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: As First Lady. I think there are probably polls in the field right now just taking the pulse of
the country just to see how much support is out there for Kanye West.
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STELTER: Of course he's got a long time before he would allegedly run. It was a really interesting way to finish that very odd speech of his. He
went on and on even wondering why we have award shows at all. He did admit to smoking Marijuana before the speech, before his acceptance speech.
In fact pot was sort of a theme of the entire show. One of several themes that I think got older viewers off guard.
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STELTER: Every time you watch to be amazed you sort of feel like you're too old to be watching because it's really programed by MTV for teenagers
and for twenty somethings.
But it did deliver on MTV's promise for unexpected chaotic controversial moments, that's for sure.
GORANI: Well the other thing is you know why I feel first of all I can't watch it any more `cause I can't relate to anything on these shows anymore.
But also the outfits you know when you say Miley Cyrus is wearing a shocking outfit.
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[15:55:00] GORANI: I was like you know what yeah, 25 years ago you had Madonna walk down a Jean Paul Gauthier catwalk with nothing on at all. You
know what I mean. So you know that a teenager might find that interesting because they don't have the recall that someone slightly older might have.
STELTER: You're right.
GORANI: But yes, this is kind of it, it's the show, it's the outfits, it's the manufactured feuds, it's social media, it's all of that now.
STELTER: And visually it is a spectacular production we're looking at clips from it right now, it is a true spectacle in all the means of that
term.
You know further more even though there was a lot of feuding and a lot of drama and a lot of over the top stunts sort of stuff, there was a reminder
of true artistry in the music industry. There was some really remarkable performances including Tori Kelly and others.
And even though you know it's not the most financially stable industry right now, the music industry is coming out with some remarkable talent,
some remarkable artists.
Taylor Swift comes to mind as one of them, right now she's on top in a way no other star is. And like you mentioned she took home the biggest price
of the night. But there are so many other artists, young artists, that are being nurtured to the industry that did at least briefly get to be showing
up on the stage or showing up as a nominee.
So it was a reminder of all of that great artistic work that's being done. And even though Kanye West claiming he's going to run for President is one
of the headlines.
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GORANI: That's true. I'm sure - I'm sure they'll all have an opportunity for an online feud with Nikki Minaj.
STELTER: Well that's the great thing, all the videos are online now, right. When we think about music videos we watch them on the internet,
that's the best place to go watch them today.
GORANI: Brian Stelter, thanks very much. Thanks for that.
Now, the visionary director who reshaped the horror film genre has passed away at 76.
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GORANI: Wes Craven had been battling brain cancer that's according to the Hollywood reporter.
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GORANI: That was Freddy Kruger from Nightmare on Elm Street. Craven was also the horror genius behind Scream and the Last House on the Left.
He'd suffered through low points in his career even going broke at one point. While Craven was celebrated for his terrifying creations he was
admired for being a great mentor.
On his twitter feed he advised people to take the first job they can get in the industry they want to work in because what matters is getting your foot
in the door.
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GORANI: This has been The World Right Now. RIP Wes Craven. Thanks for watching, I'm Hala Gorani, Quest Means Business is next.
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