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AROUND THE WORLD

Prince Harry to Trek Across South Pole; TV Hunting Host Under Fire; Toronto Council Conflict With Crack-Smoking Mayor Continues; Midwest Tornado Victims Pick Up the Pieces; Obama Pushes Congress to Delay Iran Sanctions

Aired November 19, 2013 - 12:30   ET

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


DEPUTY MAYOR NORMAN KELLY, TORONTO: What could happen in the end if he continues to get in the way of good government, if he continues to bring the government of Toronto in disrepute, then we may finally in the end have to fall back on the province --

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: To fire him?

KELLY: -- and seek its intervention. I hope not.

ROBERTSON: But you will use that as a last resort if he obstructs you?

KELLY: That is -- that could be the final -- the end game.

ROBERTSON: How long? How much time would you give him on that?

KELLY: I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So really it's talking about early next year, he hopes but the Christmas period lets the mayor cool off. They get back to work in the new year. Everything moves along.

But that's maybe for many people too much wishful thinking at the moment, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CO-ANCHOR: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

I guess he can just be ignored, right? I mean, the number two guy can ignore the mayor and just get the city's business done?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CO-ANCHOR: The council doesn't have the power to fire him, but they can put him on the sidelines. And they've pretty much done that.

It's interesting watching had him on his talk show and saying -- he's now saying he hasn't had a drink in a few weeks. He's working out and he's going to get back to -- I don't know what the original Ford was, but yeah.

MALVEAUX: Let's see how he does in the new year, new year's resolutions. When we come back, tornado victims, they are now picking up the pieces in Illinois. A look at what one family is going through, they lost everything. They're going to walk us through what was their home. And how do they survive? How do they cope? Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. The death toll from Sunday's devastating string of tornadoes in the Midwest has now gone up to eight.

MALVEAUX: Six people died in Illinois, two in Michigan, and just take a look at this, the devastation.

The victims include elderly siblings, one found in a pile of rubble, the other in a field a hundred yards from their home. There are more than 100 people now also injured, and reports that 76 tornadoes actually hit the Midwest.

HOLMES: The storm's destroyed or severely damaged as many as 400 homes in the town of Washington, Illinois.

Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): That video is of a tornado hitting Kris Lancaster's house as he filmed it on his phone.

He and the family did manage to survive. They got into the basement.

CNN's Gary Tuchman with their story.

MANDY LANCASTER, TORNADO SURVIVOR (voice-over): It's coming toward us.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the tornado that came through Washington, Illinois, a frightening and increasingly image in this video age.

But what's unique about this video --

KRIS LANCASTER, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Oh, my god! Holy (inaudible)!

TUCHMAN (voice-over): -- is that the man shooting it kept shooting as it started to destroy his house.

It could have been the last thing Kris Lancaster ever did. But he survived.

K. LANCASTER: I got hit by some debris or something and cut my eye in three places.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): His wife and children survived too, but this is what happened to their house. Gone. Even they can barely recognize it.

K. LANCASTER: This is my bedroom. Right here. I was sleeping on that side of the bed, and when the sirens went off and the wife yelled at me, I jumped up, threw some clothes -- you know, my running pants on and I went through the house. I actually went, checked here. The kids were all over here. So I went through this way, was my kitchen.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Incredibly the plates in the kitchen cupboard remained intact, the rest of the kitchen destroyed.

The home was Mandy Lancaster's dream house.

TUCHMAN: After you came out of the basement and saw what the tornado did to your house, were you incredulous that you survived?

M. LANCASTER: Yes, I don't know how anybody made it through this.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Mandy did not want her husband to shoot the video, but he was transfixed.

K. LANCASTER: That water tower over there, just to the left of it is where I started seeing it coming across, coming across, coming across.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): It wasn't till it after the tornado hit that Kris joined his family in the basement.

The day after, they look for keepsakes.

K. LANCASTER: Ah-ha! The video of my wedding.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): And they try to figure out what happens next.

M. LANCASTER: I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do. All's I can do is just stand here and look at it.

TUCHMAN: Like so many families here, Kris, Mandy, their children, have lost almost everything.

But right now, this family prefers to focus on something they haven't lost, each other.

K. LANCASTER: The good Lord above was with me. All I can say is I got three angels up there. I got my father, my grandparents. My grandma and grandpa are up there. They're looking down on me. They're my guardian angels today. They said you got to stay here and take care of your family.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Washington, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And, of course, if you want to help those affected by the tornadoes, pop into our website, CNN.com. Impact your world there, you can find plenty of ways to do so.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. President Obama is intensifying his push for Congress to delay any new sanctions against the Iranian government. The president's been meeting today, actually, with a bipartisan group of Senate leaders.

MALVEAUX: He wants them to give international negotiators a chance to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.

Now, the diplomatic talks, they're going to resume tomorrow in Geneva. Trita Parsi, he's president of the National Iranian American Council, joining us from Washington.

So, Trita, first of all, tell us why, because it seemed like we were close.

Although it was hard to believe, it seemed like there was a lot of optimism the last go-round that the P5-plus-1 were going to come up with some sort of agreement here. And it seems like France was the one that said, no, not going to happen. Now, it seems like it's Israel, not even involved in the talks, that might it be the block here.

TRITA PARSI, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: Well, last time they were really close.

In fact, I think there was essentially an agreement between the U.S. and the Iranian side, but then the other P5 states had some changes, none as many as the French had.

But I think that's actually going to get overcome. I think there's a very high likelihood that there's going to be a deal this coming Thursday and Friday. The question is, what happens after that deal?

HOLMES: When you talk about Israel, let's talk about that a little bit. The U.S. and Israel, obviously, very, very close allies, and Israel's taking none of this. They don't see anything positive in this, so far.

How does that impact the U.S.-Israel relationship? I mean, there are those, we've got to say, in Israel who say that their government is taking -- or playing too strong of a hand at the moment, and it could backfire.

PARSI: The fact that Israel has a disagreement is, in and of itself, not going to change the U.S.'s relationship with Israel.

The fact that the prime minister of Israel is so vocal and so aggressively, publicly against a deal is certainly making things much more difficult for President Obama. And I'm sure is not particularly appreciated.

The bottom line, though, is, I think this is actually a very good deal for Israel, because this will make sure that the Iranians cannot move towards a nuclear weapon without getting caught at a very, very early stage.

MALVEAUX: And what do we think about the likelihood that will Iran will cooperate here? I mean, with the potential of taking away some of those sanctions, loosening the sanctions, they have cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency so far.

Do we think that they are honest brokers?

PARSI: I think to get the Iranians to collaborate, so far, the discipline has been quite strong on the Iranian side.

I think the challenge is going to come after this first deal, because after the first deal, there's going to be a second phase in which there's going to be a need for the U.S. to provide more concessions.

In the first deal, the Iranians are providing the vast majority of the concessions. And then Congress is going to having to lift sanctions in order for the Iranians to agree to the final stage of this. And that's going to be tough.

HOLMES: Yes, it's a difficult situation indeed. A lot of domestic politics at play as well. Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council. Appreciate you coming on the program. Thanks.

PARSI: Thank you for having me.

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

And Prince Harry, of course, not known to shy away from a challenge here, but this next one really could be a test. Testing this -

HOLMES: You like him.

MALVEAUX: I do, actually. I've seen the daredevil. I like that.

HOLMES: You do. You like him a lot. He's going to the South Pole.

MALVEAUX: The South Pole, coming up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Prince Harry getting ready for a wild adventure. He's about to take a grueling trek across the South Pole. CNN's Max Foster explains how he's going to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prince Harry certainly isn't shy of a challenge. But the royal's latest adventure will certainly test his mettle. In a race to the South Pole, Harry will trek more than 200 miles across Antarctica, in temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius.

PRINCE HARRY: They're going to achieve something quite remarkable and in doing so, will prove to everybody else that, you know, even when you've lost a leg, lost an arm or whatever the illness may be, that you can achieve pretty much anything if you put your mind to it. FOSTER: Teaming up with British veterans, Harry will race to the finish line against teams from the United States and the commonwealth. And despite his royal upbringing, it's the prince's role as a soldier that's already won him praise from his fellow teammates and rivals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good. He's laid back. We're not scared or anything to have him around. He's just another soldier, along with the rest of us.

FOSTER: He's an army helicopter pilot who served in Afghanistan. And Harry's had plenty of training for this big race. Back income 2011, he went on an expedition to the North Pole, which saw him diving into the freezing waters of the arctic, but he had to withdraw from that expedition early to attend the wedding of his brother.

More recently, Harry traveled to Iceland for training and even spent 24 hours in an industrial freezer in preparation. But will it be enough? The winning team is expected to cross the finish line in time to be home for Christmas.

Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, a Minnesota woman who has her own hunting TV show is now coming under fire in South Africa. That picture right there is the one that she posted on Facebook with a lion she had just killed. We are live from Johannesburg, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A woman who hosts a hunting show in the U.S. coming under fire now for a recent hunting trip. This is in South Africa. Melissa Bachman posted a photo of herself on Facebook posing with a lion that she had killed on a reserve. This is just outside of Johannesburg.

HOLMES: And what happened was, that photo went viral. Animal lovers were outraged and a petition began asking the South African government to ban her from the country. And check out the opening to Bachman's show, by the way. It's called "Winchester Deadly Passion."

(VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: There you get to see her big game hunting all over the world. She uses a bow a lot of times, as well as guns. Some of the pictures that she has posted from the hunts show a wide variety of animals.

MALVEAUX: So Robyn Curnow joins us from Johannesburg.

And so explain this for us, Robyn. What is the controversy over this? I mean her show is that of hunting, right? She is supposed to be hunting animals, is that right?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It appears so. And I think this seems to be mostly being played out on social media, a lot of indignation by people here in South Africa and, of course, over there in the United States saying that it's disgusting that she's killed this lion. Other people threatening to shoot her, saying that God will make her pay.

But I think if you're a little bit more pragmatic, and a lot of conservationists I've spoken to, a lot of people who work in the conservation industry here say, listen, take a deep breath here. Don't get overly emotional. Hunting is not banned in South Africa. You can have a license. It seems to be that she went through this process of hunting for a lion in the way that most people hunt for lions and other animals, other wild animals here in South Africa.

This is an industry that brings in the millions and millions of dollars, not only to tourism, but to conservation efforts, as well. So I think this has become very emotional on social media, but here in South Africa I think those who work on the ground say let's be a little bit more pragmatic here.

HOLMES: Yes, I think for a lot of people, of course, would look at photographs of animals like that and shake their heads, but there are a lot of people who are involved in hunting. What about the place she hunted at? This was a reserve that was set aside for hunting as I understand it. And was that lion part of any endangered grouping?

CURNOW: No, I think, you know, this is the thing about South Africa, and Africa generally, hunting is very much part of life and has been for decades and hundreds of years. And, of course, the question is, is the hunting regulated? Is it done responsibly? And are these animals not threatened with extinction?

Under all of those questions, under these circumstances, the answer is yes, yes, and no. I think Michele Bachman, while many people feel that she perhaps was bragging by this, that, you know, that Melissa Bachman, I apologize, (INAUDIBLE) that she was bragging, that perhaps it was inappropriate.

The fact remains is, is that these reserves are set aside for hunting. They're professional hunters that often accompany hunters from the United States. Big game hunters who pay a lot of money to these reserves. Sometimes these reserves even farm lions for hunting. There's also those kinds of examples. So I think there is this sort of balance.

Are lions - you know, under extinction, are they threatened, are they endangered? Well, they're not under their endangered spies list in terms of being critically endangered. Of course lions and many African animals are under threat, specifically because their habitats are being encroached on, that there's so much urbanization, that they can't roam as much, and that's where the threat particularly to lions comes from their conservationists are telling me..

HOLMES: All right, Robyn, thanks so much. Robyn Curnow there in Johannesburg.

MALVEAUX: And we're following this. Trending right now around the world.

The word "selfie" has been declared the word of year by the Oxford Dictionary.

HOLMES: Oh, look at that.

MALVEAUX: Those are our selfies.

HOLMES: Those are our selfies. Yes, I've got long arms, so they don't look like selfies.

MALVEAUX: Kenisha (ph).

HOLMES: Editors defined the term as a photograph taken of ones self and uploaded to a social media website.

MALVEAUX: Oh, look -

HOLMES: Yes, that's me saying, "Why did they want me to take a selfie?"

MALVEAUX: That's a little goofy.

HOLMES: Yes, the use of the word has gone up 17,000 percent since last year. And thanks to Miley Cyrus, twerking - oh, you look great there.

MALVEAUX: That was the runner-up.

HOLMES: Twerk was the runner-up. Yes.

MALVEAUX: The most - best - (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES: Yes, and guess what?

MALVEAUX: Love the selfies.

HOLMES: The first recognized usage of the word selfie was in Australia back in 2002.

MALVEAUX: Really? Well, you should know being the Aussie.

HOLMES: There you go. I'm really proud of that.

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM starts right now. Thanks for watching "AROUND THE WORLD".