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Hala Gorani Tonight

UN Security Council to Vote on Syria Peace Plan; Mother Teresa Nearing Sainthood; Foreign Hacking of US Government Networks. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 18, 2015 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to "The World Right Now". We're breaking away from our colleagues at her sister

network, CNN, USA. You've just been listening to its coverage of President Obama's final news conference of the year, but there is also news happening

at the United Nations.

A UN Security Council vote in the next few hours may be diplomacy's best bet yet to end the Civil War in Syria. The U.S. and Russia have led a day

of whirlwind negotiations and now the final draft of the UN resolution on Syria has been agreed to. That itself is extraordinary. But the draft

says, among other things, that the resolution would endorse a peace plan calling for a ceasefire between the regime and the opposition. It would

also lead to talks and the drafting a new constitution and give the UN a leading role in working with searing government forces and rebel groups.

CNN's Elise Labott has been closely following to this high level talk. She's live at the UN. Elise, Russia alone has vetoed what, four previous

resolutions they had some trouble coming to an agreement but apparently there is a deal and there will be a vote.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN'S GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right John. Well, look, I mean they have agreed to its acts. It's a little bit short

on specifics. It's a little bit kind of watered down as we like to say here in the UN. As you know, the councils been bitterly divided. They

voted on some things on Syria, on chemical weapons, on fighting ISIS, on financing humanitarian issues. But they've never been able to agree on a

political way forward in Syria.

And that's what they have agreed to today endorsing this process led by Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. You

have about 70 nations, including around Saudi Arabia. The major power brokers in Syria to move forward. And so that when they want to do is

start this political process talks between the regime and the opposition on a ceasefire early January.

They hope to get that ceasefire done within six months and talks on drafting a constitution. A political process leading to a new election

very significant that the UN Security Council is voting on this. But some of the major things have been left out. The still haven't agreed to what

groups are considered terrorist groups and which groups are should be included in the process. Also, the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-

Assad. Always ...

MANN: I want to ask you about that in particular ...

LABOTT: Yeah.

MANN: ... because the U.S. has pushed for his ouster, Russia has pushed for that to remain a question for Syria to decide some way down the road.

Who moved down there?

LABOTT: Well, nobody has moved. I mean, you heard Secretary Kerry ends in Moscow earlier this week saying the U.S. isn't looking for regime change

but I think he was trying to placate his Russian house when he met his, not the regime change we saw in Libya or in Iraq where a brutal dictator was

basically deposed by military action. What they are hoping is, there will be this Syrian transition process. They are hoping Bashar al-Assad will

fade from the scene eventually but that's a long way off.

I still don't think that's one nut the real key nut that they haven't been able to crack. U.S. continues to say that he has lost all legitimacy that

he has to go. You heard President Obama in that news conference say that in order for the bloodshed to stop, the president has to go. But the fate

of Assad still unclear, John.

MANN: So Assad remains a big variable. No one has really addressed. There's also another variable may be to, correct me if I'm wrong, but this

plan calls for peace talks and a ceasefire with the opposition, but the opposition I take it doesn't include ISIS or the Al-Nusra front. So is the

idea that there is going to be some kind of progress, some kind of ceasefire without ISIS or Al-Nusra front being part of the conversation or

even putting on their weapons?

LABOTT: Well the hope is, when we saw this meeting in Saudi Arabia and Riyadh last week where about 100 members of the opposition got together to

discuss who would be negotiating. Jordan is also working on a list of groups that would be considered terrorist groups clearly ISIS and Al-Nusra

among them.

And what the hope is, is that if you can get negotiations and a ceasefire going between these legitimate moderate opposition and the regime that

everyone can focus their attention on the real jihadists who they see is the problem which is mainly ISIS but also, yes, Al-Nusra is considered but

it's a little bit of gray area because some of these groups are loosely affiliated with Nusra. Some of them are little bit more extremists than

the U.S. or others would allow would like. And so, you know who is the terrorist and who is not is still also undecided. But clearly the hope is,

if they can agree to that then ISIS is the real enemy now.

MANN: Elise Labott at the United Nations where once again there has apparently been real progress in the diplomacy moving towards peace in

Syria. Thanks very much.

Well, the Civil War in Syria has displaced millions of people, not all them though want to leave the country. Despite the dangers, many hope to stay

in their homeland. CNN's Matthew Chance got rear access to a Russian funded camp inside Syria where the Kremlin's influence is plain to see.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN'S SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the game for Syria, Russia's Putin and Bashar al-Assad are on the same side. This is

thanks to Russia, the poster reads. We will brought to this, the sports city camp in Latakia, to see how the Syrian government and the Kremlin

brackets say they give refuge. One government sanctioned aid worker told me how and why these people are here.

What are these people being through to drive them to become refugees?

ZEN HASAN, BUSTAN FOUNDATION: These people just don't have any homes. Don't have any family so horrible stuff kids here. I heard stuff from kids

about killing, about death, about, you know, it's really horrible. They live a horrible stuff. You know. They just feel safe here. They don't

want to leave the land and they don't have the money to pay for their trip to Europe which anybody can do. It's not the other side.

CHANCE: Is that why these refugees are here being protected essentially by President Assad, because they could not afford to go to Europe?

HASAN: No. No, I'm not saying that they want to stay here. They respect with President Assad, you know but they just didn't want to leave.

CHANCE: What the authorities tell us that housing at least 5,000 or 6,000 people in this one camp, just the fraction of course of the millions made

refugees by serious brutal Civil War. One of the reasons we've been brought here is to illustrate that not every Syrian wants to escape the

clutches of the Syrian government and its President Bashar al-Assad. Some feel much safer under his control.

Salam Alaikum.

Some like Aisha Abdul Raheem and her family who fled Aleppo earlier this year. Her husband is in the Syrian army, she told me rebels behead family

members of Syrian soldiers she says. But some, the choice between the evils of Bashar al-Assad and the rebels who are posing is simple to manage.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Latakia, Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: We've also got our eyes on the market. This is what's happening in the business world right now. You are looking at the latest figures. We

have the Dow Jones industrials down by more than 316 points largely because of another bad week for crude oil prices. They're below $40 still and what

they call on the street quadruple witching. This is the time when, well indexes for stocks and four commodities. Finalize, NASDAQ down S&P down

red numbers as far as the eye can see.

Now to a shock announcement from the bank -- sorry, we're going to look at some cleanup per se. Another shock announcement from the Bank of Japan that

took financial markets by surprise. The Japanese central bank shifting the focus of its stimulus scheme. It's still printing trillions of yen a year

but now will put more than cash into supporting companies pushing capital investment in hiring. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to kick start

growth in his country with reforms that have been dubbed of abenomics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back. After a busy day of diplomacy in New York. Seventeen nations have agreed on the final draft of the UN resolution aimed at ending

the bloodshed in Syria. Among other things, the resolution calls for ceasefire between Syrian forces and rebels and a new draft constitution.

Russian investigators are analyzing the flight recorder from a warplane shot down in Turkey last month. Experts say it's damaged but that

information can still be retrieved. The attack on the plane has led to a chill in relations between Russia and Turkey.

In India, a man convicted in the deadly gang rape of a woman in 2012 could be released this weekend. He was 17 at the time and sentenced as a

juvenile to three years in custody. The brutality of the attacks of protests across India outraged worldwide.

Mother Teresa about to take the last official step towards Saint after Pope Francis recognized a second miracle attributed to her. The late Albanian

nun famed for her work, caring for the poor in Kolkata could become canonized as early as next year. Delia Gallagher looks back at her

remarkable life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu into a middle-class Albanian family in 1910, in what was then part of the

Ottoman Empire. She left home at 18 to become a Catholic nun calling herself Teresa and traveled to Kolkata, India, to serve the poorest of the

poor.

In Kolkata, she received what she later described as a call within a call. Mother Teresa left her position as the headmistress in a convent school to

follow Jesus into the slums, she said.

She sheltered orphans abandoned in garbage dumps, comforted the insane, cleaned the ulcers of lepers. She rescued the destitute, the old people

dying in the sewers. Many called her the saint of the gutters. She believed that there was no disease worse than the disease of being

unwanted.

MOTHER TERESA: People are not hungry just for bread. They're hungry for love. People are not naked only for a piece of cloth, they are naked for

human dignity. People are not only homeless for a room made of bricks but they are homeless being rejected, unwanted, unloved.

GALLAGHER: Where the world celebrated beauty, Teresa was small and plain, just 4 feet 11, 150 centimeters. Where possessions were worshiped, she

owned just three saris and a prayer book and yet she became a global figure, a friend to the most celebrated of celebrities as well as the

poorest of the poor.

When she won a Nobel Peace prize in 1979, she persuaded organizers to scrap the banquet and give the savings to the unprivileged. She founded the

missionaries of Charity, a congregation with branches in over 100 countries to carry on her cause. Her forceful personality and unswerving beliefs put

her in conflict with some, many criticized her opposition to contraception, divorce and abortion but was not to be turned.

MOTHER TERESA: Abortion is a terrible evil. And if you do not want the child, I want it. Give to me.

GALLAGHER: Mother Teresa died in 1997 at the age of 87. She was beatified in 2003 by the late Pope John Paul II. Beatification which requires one

miracle is the last step before sainthood. With this latest announcement from Pope Francis, the woman known as the living saint will be officially

recognized as such. Delia Gallagher, CNN Rome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: U.S. President Barack Obama has just wrapped up his final news conference of the year, covering a wide range of topics and trying to

reassure Americans rattled by the recent terror attack in San Bernardino, California. Our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns joins us now

live.

Joe, we have been watching closely just after the president spoke the activity underway at the United Nations. They're trying very hard to

figure what is ahead for Syria. What he have to say about Syria, what he have to say about Bashar al-Assad because the U.S. has an important role in

deciding what they're going to do in New York and what's going to happen eventually in Syria itself.

JOE JOHNS, CNN'S SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jonathan, I do think one of the most interesting things the president said at this news

conference today did have to do with that subject Syria and Bashar al- Assad. The White House has always been adamant, very clear that as part of any solution in Syria, the President Bashar al-Assad has to go. President

Obama reiterated that in this news conference more than once but he did seem to leave the door open just a bit for some type of a solution that

considered the equities of other countries, including Russia, which has been prompting Bashar al-Assad up. Listen to part what the president said

about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: You cannot bring peace to Syria. You cannot get an end to the Civil War, unless you have a government that is, it is

recognized as legitimate by a majority of that country. It will not happen. And this is the argument that I have had repeatedly with Mr.

Putin, dating five years ago at which time his suggestion as I gather some Republicans are now suggesting was, you know, al-Assad was not so bad.

Let him just be as brutal and impressive as he can but at least he'll keep order. And I said look, the problem is that the history of trying to keep

order when this large majority of the country has turned against you is not good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The president also said there at the news conference talking about Assad, there is a way of us, or is there a way of us constructing a bridge

that allows Russians to make sure their equities are respected. Retribution is not the order of the day he says, that's what makes it so

difficult. So not a clear, a fully formed thought there Jonathan, but an idea and a window into the president's thinking right now.

MANN: At this point late in his presidency, Barack Obama has a lot of problems sovlved. But he also was looking at his legacy. Part of that

legacy will be the promise he made a long time ago to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. Is he still trying or is he given up?

JOHNS: Talked a bit about that here to. The assumption has always been because of opposition on Capitol Hill that if the president decided finally

that he was just going to close Guantanamo Bay, he would have to pretty much go it alone and that would be at the very limits of his power

considering all the opposition. But today, the president talking about Guantanamo Bay so there would be a number of prisoners they would get down

to and after that point, the question would be whether he could get the Congress to move on this.

He said the equities involved how much money the United States is spending on 60 or 70 prisoners for example, but he said his first priority would be

to try to get something through the Congress before even talking about using his executive authority, Jonathan.

MANN: He's got one year left. Joe Johns at the White House. Thanks very much.

And we have breaking news here in the United States. U.S. government officials fearing that government communications could have been spied on

for the last three years by hackers working for foreign government. Let's bring in our justice correspondent Evan Perez for the very latest. What

can you tell us?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well Jonathan, this is a system that is built by Juniper Networks, it's one of the big providers of

computer networking equipment and routers. And what has been found is that for the last three years hackers, somebody altered the source code. Now

this is extremely sophisticated. And so the suspicion is that some foreign government spy agency perhaps from Russia or China. Those are the two

countries foremost at the list here by U.S. authorities.

Somebody altered the source code of these systems in order to be able to, you know, essentially create a back door to be able to get in untracked and

spy on encrypted communications. Now these are the most secure, is supposedly the most secure types of communications, systems that use VPN

for instance. We, you and I use it to log into our laptops. And does not only affect U.S. government computers, it also affects private companies

that rely on VPN in order to safeguard some of their secrets whether they're having communication.

So this is a very big deal. The Homeland Security Department, the FBI are investigating this. They believe again that some foreign government was

responsible for this and that it's been obviously they have an access to this now for three years. This is only recently discovered. Juniper

Networks for the record issued a statement today. They said that they are trying to fix this and they've been in touch with all their customers to

make sure that they update their security and fix this, this very big security problem.

MANN: Yeah, the full-scale, the source. We still don't know. Evan Perez working the story for us. Thanks very much.

PEREZ: Thanks.

MANN: Still to come tonight of brutal gang rape and murder. The two protests in India and across the world now when the perpetrators is about

to go free. Reaction from New Delhi. This is "The World Right Now".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back. An Indian man convicted of raping and murdering a woman when he was a teenager is about to be released. The man was 17 when

he took part in the brutal gang rape of a 23-year old on a bus in New Delhi. It was a case you may recall a case that shocked the world. The

court rejected an effort to keep him in custody longer than his original sentence. New Delhi Bureau Chief, Ravi Agrawal has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL'S NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: These are the scenes three years ago that are unforgettable for Indians. Thousands of

New Delhi citizens crying out for justice. They protested for days and nights, enraged by a crime that was heinous beyond belief. A 23-year-old

woman on a daily bus at night raped and beaten up by a gang of six and then thrown off the bus.

She died from her injuries. Public anger led to a swift police and government response, six suspects were rounded up. According to police,

one hanged himself in prison. Four were found guilty and sentenced to death. It was a warning to any would be rapist in India, a sign that

enough was enough. But there was a sixth rapist, a juvenile. He was only a few months short of his 18th, birthday when he was on that bus committing

the crime that would shame an entire nation.

Juvenile laws in India say a minor convict can serve a maximum of only three ears in prison. Sunday will mark exactly three years. Now, he could

be about to walk free. Despite government and police request to keep the juvenile rapist in custody, Delhi's high court made it clear judgment

Friday it had no power to overturn the law. This is the victim's mother. Asha Singh. When CNN spoke with her two years ago, after the guilty

verdicts were announced, her relief was palpable.

ASHA SINGH, VICTIM'S MOTHER: (Translated) It was because of huge public support that we were able to gather courage to put up a tough fight.

AGRAWAL: On Friday, Indian TV cameras caught her right outside the High Court. One of my daughter's rapists will now walk free, she announced.

Live on national TV, she broke down and walked away.

Justice had been served according to the strict letter of the law. But if you go by Indian TV, anger is growing. And the loophole in Indian law

seems to be the story of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AGRAWAL: According to current Indian laws, needed the legal system and all the media and they are allowed to name victims of rape. In the case of

neophyte or Braveheart as the victim came to be known however, a mother on Wednesday publicly outed her daughter's name. She had a very specific

reason for that. She said there was no need for her family to feel ashamed of what happened. Instead, the rapists were the ones who should be ashamed

she said. And with that, she named her daughter Jyoti Singh. .

The media here carried it on TV and print, and it is now essentially a public knowledge, a public domain. Naming the perpetrators is a different

matter. We have long known the names of five of the rapists who were adults and they had been named by us and many others right off that they

were arrested. But we do not even know the name of the juvenile rapists who is about to be set free. This is because according to Indian law,

juveniles under the age of 18 receive a number of state protections. They have the right to privacy and confidentiality, and it seems everyone here,

the government and the media are toying those lines. Jonathan.

MANN: Ravi Agrawal. Coming up. We head to a remote island in Japan to discover the secrets of the Kimono and the painstaking process involved

with creating it. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back rather. Closing up to Vladimir Putin, isn't typically part of a campaign strategy for U.S. presidential hopefuls but this is no

typical race for the White House. Republican Donald Trump is once again turning convention on its head by embracing the Russian president. Mr.

Putin started it actually yesterday calling Trump outstanding and talented and the absolute leader of the presidential race. Trump is now returning

the praise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, to find about Putin, I think that he is a strong leader and he's a powerful leader. He's

represented his country and that's the way the country is being represented. He's actually got the popularity within this country. They

respect him as a leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: One of Trump's presidential rivals is blasting his warm words for Mr. Putin, Jeb Bush tweeting some scathing criticism one post includes a

video lesson for Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The best way I think to deal with a bully is probably to pop him in the nose. That's all bullies ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Bush wrote "A real leader would stand up not suck up to bullies and despots like Putin." Bush also took Trump to test during a CNN interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I don't respect Vladimir Putin. He is the leader of an important country. Certainly not a regional power as Barack Obama called him. But

to get praise from Vladimir Putin's is not going to help Donald Trump. He's not a serious candidate and he would bring chaos to the presidency,

just as he has done to this campaign. It is entertaining. But the simple fact is, we're at war right now with Islamic terrorism. And he has not

offered one compelling specific thing to do to keep us safe. It is all high-volume, lots of talk but nothing specific because he has not taken the

time to learn the issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Bush has found a favorite phrase tweeting about Trump as the #chaos candidate. Well you can hear more about Donald Trump and Jeb Bush and the

chaos that ensues on "Political Mann" coming up in about two and a half hours time. The program that brings you everything every other program

just kept.

Kimonos are among the most recognizable symbols of Japanese culture and internationally known artifact. Paula Newton headed to one small southern

island where traditional craftsman work up to two years to make a single garment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amani Oshima is a reclusive island basking in its sub-tropical glory and yet so Japanese. Now, you could

reach for the obvious cliche here something about time standing still on the silent. No, even Amani Oshima needs to evolve and that brings us to

why we've come.

We find Masahito Hara on the loom carefully weaving delicate white silk and cotton and yet all his work is only a means to an end.

For more than 100 years, this island has been designing and crafting the most precious kimonos in old Japan. This fabric is about 100 years old, he

tells me and it was used for a kimono. They can cost thousands of dollars and take anywhere from six months to two years to make and we find out why.

This is dorozome, they start with that white fabric carefully woven, but it won't stay this way. It is dyed first with a vegetable pigment. Some of

it derived from the pulp of local fruit trees. It's being prepped for what you are about to see next.

Mud, those delicate silk strands are soaked and submerged in mud. Not just any mud, iron rich mud that turns the silk into a deep dark brown color.

This process alone can take weeks. The mud is eventually washed out in natural spring water. It may not look like art yet but this 1300 year-old

technique is peerless. And we are only just beginning, I mean look at her intricate work here, her fingers dance over the loom, the pattern, the

design. There can't be a thread out of place.

MASAHITO HARA: (Translated) Weaving and mud dying, are very tough things to do. We find joy in just doing it which is different from making money

from it. I think such joy is always been in our hearts and minds.

NEWTON: Mr. Hara is an endearing craftsman with a passion for the process, something he is trying to hand down to his son. For this to survive, it

can't just be used for kimonos anymore.

NARUJITO HARA: (Translated) This is my ancestors have been doing. I'd like to take up this challenge and come up with nice designs and new

creations. I think Western clothes could be one of these.

NEWTON: A value here is in the Amami fabric. It can be refashioned for other clothing or anything else. Each thread is unique, hand painted, hand

crafted, the work of art.

M. HARA: (Translated) To simply put, although it varies depending on the weaving skill, the fabric made by an experienced weaver is, if you touch it

like this, is very smooth as if it is coated with oil.

NEWTON: Mud and all, this fabric is toiled over as if a canvass. It is awardable work of art and in ancient craft that seems to fit in so

naturally in a place teeming with beauty. Paula Newton, CNN, Amami Oshima, Japan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: So beautiful. This has been "The World Right Now". Thanks for joining us. "Quest Means Business" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END