Return to Transcripts main page
CNN NEWSROOM
Syrian Cease Fire to Take Effect at the End of the Week; George W. Bush Campaigns with Brother Jeb; Grammy Results; UK Pilots Union Up in Arms Against Laser Incidents; Obama to Visit Vietnam on G-7 Japan Trip; Trump's German Relatives Speak about the Candidate. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 16, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Not going to happen. Bashar al-Assad said it's not possible for a Syrian ceasefire to take effect this week.
George W. Bush returns to the spotlight in South Carolina on behalf of his brother's presidential bid.
And a big night of the Grammy's for Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.
Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN Newsroom.
Well, hopes for a ceasefire actually taking hold in Syria deemed with a series of airstrikes on medical facilities and schools. Dozens of civilians were killed and injured when the bombs fell Monday.
Turkey accused Russia of an obvious war crime while the U.S. blamed the Syrian regime. It's unclear who was responsible.
World powers had agreed to a cessation of hostilities to take effect at the end of this week. But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cast doubt on the details being ironed out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): Until now we hear about them requesting a ceasefire within a week. OK, then who is capable of bringing together all of these conditions within a week? No one. When does the West speak about ceasefire? I think the answer is clear, it's when the militants are hurt, when their defeats begin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The airstrikes hit in Aleppo province and about 100 kilometers away in Italy province. Medecins Sans Frontieres said at least seven people were killed and eight others were missing and presumed dead after missiles hit the hospital. The building appeared to be reduced to rubble.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FEDERICA MOGHERINI, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: What happened today to the hospital of Medecins Sans Frontieres is completely unacceptable. And we will continue to pressure all the parties to respect basic principles of humanitarian law and focus on the protection of civilians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Medecins Sans Frontieres says the hospital was hit four times within minutes and the organization's president says it's not the first time facilities have come under attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGO TERZIAN, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES PRESIDENT: It's clearly an attack against the medical mission. To be today a doctor or a nurse in the areas controlled by the opposition, it's equal to be a criminal. Unfortunately, if you are a doctor and you are working in a hospital, clearly you are under attack by the Syrian regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The humanitarian need in Syria remains urgent, of course, although most parties have agreed in principle to allow aid into besieged areas, ISIS has not. The U.N. is considering air drops of food and medical supplies.
Frederick Pleitgen visited a U.N. distribution center outside Damascus where the world food program is ramping up its relief effort.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These images shocked the world. People starving in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya. Aid groups say dozens have succumb to hunger in the winter months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDULLAH, MADAYA ACTIVIST: This child here is very ill. At least three weeks and he gets sick and ill and his stomach is really, really hurting. He needs immediately go to hospital outside Madaya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: World powers have started an urgent push to get aid to those most in need. At this U.N. distribution center outside Damascus, the World Food Programme is gearing up to escalate its relief effort. Hussam al Saleh shows me the facility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUSSAM AL SALEH, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME WORKER: We received the commodities and larger quantities and we package them into small individual portions. Each portion is enough to feed five people for one month.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: But while the World Food Programme is working to get its aid ready, the problem is many of the warring parties in Syria are not willing to allow relief goods to be delivered. The U.N. has accused the Syrian government and many rebel groups and ISIS of using the denial of food and medicine as a weapon. The World Food Programme says it could get to places like Madaya quickly if it's allowed.
Workers are already stacking boxes into trucks. Once this vehicle is loaded, the folks here are going to seal it, which makes it easier to get through check points.
[03:05:00] And the World Food Programme tells us they have many trucks like this one loaded ready to go and are just waiting for permission.
Most of the parties involved in the fighting here have agreed in principle to allow aid to besieged areas, but ISIS has not. The group has surrounded the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor. Syrian and Russian military aircraft have dropped some food and medical supplies and soon the U.N. wants to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALEH: Unfortunately, we didn't reach it. However, Deir ez-Zor there is a plan to do an air drop and hopefully we'll soon manage to do an air drop as well to assist them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: The World Food Programme is still waiting to get the green light to enter many besieged areas. Until that permission comes, all they can do is keep packing the goods ready to move when they can.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kiswah, Syria.
CHURCH: Now to a different story. A U.K. pilots union says enough is enough and is calling for lasers to be declared offensive weapons after another attack on a passenger plane. This one bound from London to New York. One official says it's only a matter of time before someone is killed.
CNN's Kelly Morgan reports.
KELLY MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is one of the most critical moments in a flight, the takeoff. It's also one of the most vulnerable times for a laser attack, which is what happened to a New York bound Virgin Atlantic flight on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have to declare a pan and go back to Heathrow. We have a medical issue with one of the pilots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: A pan is a pilot call one level below mayday that announces an urgent, but not immediate life threatening urgent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pan, pan, pan, Virgin 25 bravo, pan. We have a medical issue with one of the pilots after a laser incident after take-off and we're going to return to Heathrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: The plane had left Heathrow at 8.13 p.m. and was struck five minutes later. One of the pilots hit in the eye as the flight climbed with 252 passengers, and 15 crew on board.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM WHITFIELD, VIRGIN AIRLINER PASSENGER: I'm quite nervous flying enough as it is. So, once we were in mid-flight and I said to myself, once the pilot made the announcement, then you could tell that something ominous was going on because of the tone on his voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: This simulation shows what happens in the cockpit during a laser attack. The pilots can be temporarily blinded. In the past, some have been hospitalized with burnt corneas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE SMITH, BRITISH AIRLINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: These attacks happen at the critical phases of flight at takeoff and landing. And that could mean the aircraft going off the side of the runway, there could be a death or crash, pilots, crew, passengers are injured.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: There haven't been any crashes today. But the pilot's association said there's only a matter of time given the huge spike in incidents the past decade. In the U.K. in 2009, 746 laser attacks were reported.
By 2014, the number had almost doubled. The figures are even more staggering in the United States with 283 incidents in 2005 rising to 7,703 last year.
The dramatic spike is blamed on the accessibility of high powered lasers which are relatively cheap and readily available online. The British Pilot's Union wants them declared offensive weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: They are just the same as carrying a knife. There is no practical application that a member of the public can use these lasers for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Other than creating a spectacle or in this case, a nuisance with potentially dire consequences.
Kelly Morgan, CNN, London.
CHURCH: It does make you wonder, doesn't it. All right. A short break here. But still to come, battleground South Carolina. The latest going on in the White House race. Jeb Bush is calling in help from a familiar face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: A humble and deep and genuine faith, a faith that reveals itself through good works, not loud words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON RIDDEL, CNN WORDL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Don Riddell with your CNN World Sports headlines.
Paris St-Germain really should be the favorites for Tuesday's Champions League clash against Chelsea, but the mood in the camp isn't exactly harmonious. The manager Laurent Blanc has suspended his defender Serge Aurier and branded him 'pitiful' after the right back appeared in a social media video and made derogatory and homophobic comments about Blanc and his teammates. Aurier has since apologized by his manager is furious.
Well, football's disgrace the (Inaudible) executive are hitting back at the lengthy bans imposed by FIFA. The suspended UEFA president, Michel Platini submitted his appeal on Monday, saying he isn't fighting for his own future but instead against injustice.
Platini was found guilty of ethics breaches by FIFA's ethics committee and banned for eight years. He continues to protest his innocence. The former FIFA president, Seth Blatter will appeal his eight-year ban on Tuesday.
And finally in golf, Lydia Ko said she will donate her prize money from winning her home New Zealand Open at the weekend to help the recovery efforts from the earthquake in Christ Church. The quake actually shook the clear water golf club just a few minutes before her final round on Sunday. But it didn't put her off. She won it for the third time in four years.
That is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.
CHURCH: New barbs and familiar faces. The republican presidential fight in South Carolina is becoming more of a family affair, at least for one candidate.
Former President George W. Bush stumped around the state for his brother Jeb. It's his first venture back in politics since leaving office in 2009. But the republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, dismissed the former president's intervention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that the name Bush would have been better than an exclamation point. He's Jeb Bush. Now the exclamation point didn't work so now he's using Bush, but I think he should have used his name. I think it shows that he wasn't proud of the family. I don't know exactly what it tells you, but I always said, in fact, I would tell him, I said, why don't you use the name Bush. You're Bush, use the name Bush.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, Trump was squarely in former President Bush's line of fire in South Carolina.
CNN's Gary Tuchman was there. Hey, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, for the first time during this election season, Jeb Bush campaigned with the former President of the United States, his brother.
Former President, George W. Bush with his wife Laura on the 2016 campaign trail to try to make his brother Jeb the next president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I came here for two reasons. One, because I care deeply about Jeb, and, two, because I care deeply about our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: The two sons of another former president, George H.W. Bush, have not campaigned together during this election until now in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. BUSH: There seems to be a lot of name-calling going on, but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time. Labels are for soup cans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: George W. Bush did not mention Donald Trump by name, but there were clear inferences to the real estate mogul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. BUSH: Now I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated, but we do not need someone in the oval office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:15:12] TUCHMAN: And those inferences were strength throughout the speech. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. BUSH: Strength is not empty rhetoric, it is not bluster, and in my experience the strongest person usually isn't the loudest one in the room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Jeb Bush is significantly behind in the South Carolina primary polls but hopes this event provides a spark.
If Jeb Bush doesn't stun the political world and win the South Carolina primary, it will break the Bush family Palmetto State winning streak. His brother won here in 2000 and was uncontested in 2004. His father won in 1988 and 1992.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bush country, man. South Carolina is Bush country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Many supporters here believe George W. Bush's brotherly campaign appearance can help change the dynamics in the state's primary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he was a wonderful president. I know he gets a lot of criticism but I think given the cards he was dealt that he did a wonderful job.
TUCHMAN: So, you think this will help his brother's campaign?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Do you think he can win South Carolina?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he can. I think if he doesn't win he is going to do very well.
TUCHMAN: While many of the people here have supported Jeb Bush from the beginning of the campaign, some others have gravitated towards him because of their dislike for one of the other republican candidates.
How does it make you feel when Donald Trump makes fun of Jeb by saying he is campaigning with his mommy and now his brother?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juvenile. It's really the only word to say it. I think that's the only way to describe the way that he really is in general, is very juvenile, is very childlike and it's not really I think getting him anywhere with people who are really paying attention to things.
(END VIDEO CLIP) TUCHMAN: Donald Trump has a commanding lead in the polls, much to the
dismay of many people here who have supported Bushes in the past and plan to support this Bush in the immediate future, this Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I ask for your support next Saturday. I ask for your prayers for our family. God bless you all. Thank you very much for coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Something very noteworthy about this event. George W. Bush spoke for 22 minutes. His brother the man running for President of the United States only spoke for 15. And then this moment occurred, George W. Bush was saying he doesn't really miss the White House, doesn't miss Washington after eight years and people in the crowd started chanting, but we miss you.
However, what was most notable about this event was George W. Bush slamming Donald Trump without ever once mentioning his name. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Interesting. Many thanks to you, Gary.
And elsewhere on the campaign trail, the back and forth barbs between the two leading republicans seemed to be getting nastier by the day.
Donald Trump has been repeatedly calling Texas Senator Ted Cruz a liar saying Cruz is unstable and even threatening a lawsuit. Cruz for his part dismisses the accusations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, today, Donald Trump held a press conference where he apparently lost it. I mean, he was just going on and on about how I'm the most horrible person in the world because I keep repeating the things he said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And those remarks did not sit well with Trump. He called in to CNN just a short while later with this response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thank you very much. He's a very bad guy. He's a very nasty guy. He's got no endorsements from any senators who he works with. He'll never be able to unify anything. And frankly, he'll never get any support from anybody, even the people that are very conservative, strongly conservative aren't giving there his support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Trump and Cruz each have one win under their belts going into the South Carolina primary this weekend. Well, the White House is making it clear President Obama fully intends
to nominate a successor for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Sources tell us the administration is already working on a list of potential nominees but Senate republicans have other plans.
CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown has more.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The body of Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia transported home to Virginia aboard a private plane.
The 79-year-old conservative icon was found dead of natural causes Saturday morning in his bed at this Texas hunting resort. President Obama mourning his loss in an address before the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Justice Scalia dedicated his life to the corner stone of our democracy. The rule of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Scalia's sudden death comes as the justices are considering major cases on contraception, abortion, immigration and voting rights and is expected to have a huge impact on the court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE VLADECK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Just both the long-term impact to Justice Scalia's death and the short-term impact. And the short-term impact is going to be immediately felt. All of these cases are very narrowly divided on the court. One vote here or there could tip the balance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:20:02] BROWN: Without Scalia on the bench, the eight remaining justices could find themselves in a four-four split in their decisions. If that happens, the lower court ruling is upheld and there is no national precedent set by the high court. Or a decision is delayed until a new justice is named.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADECK: So, where the government lost below a four-four time in the Supreme Court is the government still losses. And so, for example, on President Obama's immigration plan that would not be a win for the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The battle for a new justice has already begun. Some possibilities include Sri Srinivasan, a 48-year-old D.C. Circuit Court judge appointed by a unanimous Senate vote, Merrick Garland, chief judge of D.C. Court of Appeals, is considered a moderate nominated by President Clinton.
Paul Watford, an Obama appointee to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Jane Kelly, another Obama appointment in Iowa, who like, Srinivasan was confirmed by a unanimous vote by the Senate.
No matter what happens in the coming months, democrats and republicans agree Justice Scalia's legacy as a legal giant will long survive him, even if the court's conservative majority doesn't.
CHURCH: Joining us now to talk more about all of this is Bob Cusack, editor-in-chief of The Hill, a must-read for Washington political junkies. Thank you, sir, for being with us.
BOB CUSACK, THE HILL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Thank you.
CHURCH: So, we've seen the brawling among republican presidential candidates. Moving up a notch, the latest attacks at the GOP debate Saturday night spilling into the new week. Want to listen for a moment to what Donald Trump had to say about Ted Cruz and then Ted Cruz's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Ted Cruz is desperate. Look, he's a.
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Yes. I think Ted's a very unstable guy. I have never, ever met a person that lies more than Ted Cruz. I have never, ever seen anything like it.
TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Two of the candidates in this race, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, both have the very same pattern. Whenever anyone points out their record, they simply start screaming liar, liar, liar. It's a very odd dynamic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Now, Bob, South Carolina is used to tough words and tough fighting, but how will voters likely respond to be what appears to be all out war here?
CUSACK: Well, yes, it remains to be seen. There are a lot of brawls in South Carolina especially on the republican side and primaries. We've seen that in prior republican races. But I think this was unusual over the weekend. The debate was extremely nasty. The word liar or lying was used a lot.
It's interesting that John Kasich, the Ohio governor, tried to stay above the fray and he has moved up in the polls. Still not in the number one slot by any means. Trump is way ahead, but he is looking to survive South Carolina. I think that was a smart move. We'll see if the voters reward him for not getting into those brawls, but it's really getting down to crunch time. You look at Donald Trump he is way up. Ted Cruz -- remember, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump just a month ago were calling each other best friends basically, and now they're going after one another. The stakes are so high and that's why I think the debate over the weekend got so heated.
CHURCH: Yes. And Trump also stepped up his attacks on Jeb Bush and his family with his brother George W. Bush out on the campaign trail, of course, with Jeb.
But voters in South Carolina, they love the Bush family. So, could those attacks back fire, perhaps?
CUSACK: They could. Certainly they could. And it looks like Donald Trump walked back some of the criticism of W., however, he did go after the Bush family pretty hard. I think he's trying to drive home the point of Bush fatigue.
There are a lot of republican voters who are tired of the Bushes. Jeb Bush had a good showing in New Hampshire, not in Iowa. He's not looking very good in South Carolina, so I think he's rolling the dice and embracing his family, which he didn't do earlier in the campaign.
We'll see if it works. But I do think that it could backfire on Donald Trump. But right now, he's got the momentum and Jeb is really still looking for any type of momentum in South Carolina.
CHURCH: Yes. And of course in the midst of all this Supreme Court Justice Scalia passed away Saturday, and his death has triggered a political battle on when he should be replaced and by whom. What impact will this likely have on the presidential race do you think, and what should happen here?
CUSACK: Well, I think it's going to help Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is revered by social and fiscal conservatives. I think he has been talking a lot about the Supreme Court justice. Went after Donald Trump during the debate saying Trump would nominate liberal judges and reminding everybody that Donald Trump has changed positions over the years on a number of high profile issues.
So, I think this does help Cruz somewhat. And then we're going to see in the Senate, we're going to have a massive partisan battle between republicans and democratic senators and also the White House.
[03:25:01] CHURCH: Well, how likely do you think it would be that President Obama could get his choice approved?
CUSACK: I think it's less than 50-50 because republicans hold the cards. President Obama can nominate somebody but republicans have the right not to bring that nominee up.
But there's no doubt about it, this is going to be something on the president's desk -- on President Obama's desk every day for the next several months, maybe deep into the fall. CHURCH: Yes. You can be sure about that. Bob Cusack, thanks so much
for talking with us. I appreciate it.
CUSACK: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: And then on the democratic side of the race for the White House, another former U.S. president also hit the campaign trail Monday. Bill Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd in Florida that his wife Hillary is running for president to restore the American dream. The Clintons will be in South Carolina on Tuesday.
On Monday, Hillary Clinton was in Nevada ahead of Saturday's caucuses there. She called for a higher minimum wage and better access to mental health care.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, her democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, echoed his demand for universal health care saying America must join the rest of the world. The Vermont senator also railed against Wall Street blaming it for the recession.
Still to come, standing up for Baby Asher. The story of a 1-year-old girl, a hospital, and Australia's controversial immigration policy. The details when we return.
Plus, music's biggest stars hit the stage at this year's Grammy's. Some of the night's best performances coming your way. Stay with us.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and of course all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
I want to update you on the main stories we've been following.
Syria's president says there is no one is capable of reaching the conditions for a ceasefire in his country within a week.
World powers have agreed on a position of hostilities to take effect Friday. Bashar al-Assad said Monday that a ceasefire still won't stop all sides from using weapons.
U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Vietnam in May when he heads to Japan for the G7 summit. The White House made the announcement during the summit of Southeast Asian nations in California. That group is looking to boost trade and to set a unified term on North Korea.
British Prime Minister David Cameron meets with the European parliament in the hours ahead to discuss plans to keep Britain and the European Union. Sources flows to French President Francois Hollande say there is still work to be done. The E.U. leaders will hold a summit Thursday in Brussels.
We turn now to a story that once again putting the spotlight on Australia's controversial immigration policy. It involves a 1-year-old girl who is being treated at a Brisbane hospital for severe burns. Protesters have been camped outside since late last week and supported
the staff who refused to discharge Baby Asher. They fear that she may be sent back to an immigration detention center on the Pacific Island of Nauru.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've had terrible reports about the situation on Nauru for children and for adults, and certainly the doctors are very concerned about what would happen to Asher if she was released back into detention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Baby Asher was born in Australia after her parents arrived in the country seeking asylum. But under Australia's immigration rule, she and her parents were sent to Nauru last year.
And our Ivan Watson has been following this story. He joins us now live from Hong Kong. So, Ivan, so that we can understand this better, explain to us how exactly Australia's controversial immigration policy works.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the government has taken a hard line to try to deter people trying to land on Australia shores on boats from countries like Indonesia. And it is done is implemented and off-shore detention policy in which migrants that are intercepted aboard this boat, migrants and refugees, are then shipped off to detention centers like the one on the Pacific Island of Nauru.
Which has been in place for years. And according to the latest figures now has at least 484 residents, among them 54 children. Now there have been Australian government human rights investigations and reports that have argued that there are cases of sexual harassment and assault that have been committed against children, detainees, against women who are held at the detention centers and that it's bad for the mental health of the detainees.
The case of this girl, Asher, who is only 12 months old, was actually born in Australia, and then her family was shipped to this Nauru detention center, has highlighted what critics says is the unfairness of this policy. And you see an effort by supporters of the family to try to stop the Australian government from deporting the 12-month-old girl back to Nauru after her burns are treated.
She was medevac'd with her parents from Nauru to Brisbane for medical treatment after overturning a boil -- a bowl full of hot water on to herself in a tent in the detention center.
She's been treated and now the hospital in Brisbane has attracted national and increasingly international attention because the hospital administrators announced last week that the baby would, quote, "only be discharged once a suitable home environment is identified." The implication there, being that the Nauru detention center is not suitable home environment for a 1-year-old child. Rosemary. CHURCH: So, what is likely to happen next to baby Asher? I mean, will
there be enough pressure brought to bear for perhaps the Australian government to make changes? Malcolm Turnbull is a fairly new Prime Minister there. Is he likely to consider any change?
WATSON: He so far has stated that his government is going to manage this policy with great care and with great compassion, but at the same time he's insisted that he doesn't want to send any message to people smugglers that Australia will open its doors to a flood of potential migrants and refugees on boats the like of which we've seen for months now on the Mediterranean sea much further to the West.
[03:35:06] The fact is that the advocates of the refugees and migrants, their legal options are closed right now. Earlier this month, the Australian high court ruled against an effort to try to challenge the constitutionality of this of this off shore immigration policy.
And so, at this stage at least 267 refugees and migrants in Australian detention centers are awaiting a government decision to deport them to centers like Nauru. And what we're hearing from human rights lawyers is that the Australian government is moving to remove a three-day warning program from these refugees and migrants, effectively saying that they could be instantaneously be shipped away without a three-day warning.
And that is another effort that they're making here, there is a public awareness campaign hash tag let them stay, that the advocates are trying to organize to help put more pressure on the government to overturn the push to deport these hundreds of refugees and migrants like this 1-year-old baby, Asher, currently being held at a hospital in Brisbane. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. We'll be watching this story very closely. I know you will, Ivan Watson, from there in Hong Kong to see what happens to baby Asher, and of course this controversial immigration policy in Australia. Many thanks to you.
Well, trading is just getting underway this hour in Europe's financial markets. And stocks are mostly up this hour. Look at that. Nice to see a little bit of green. So, for London, London's FTSE up nearly 1 percent there. The DAX in Germany up slightly, nearly .2 percent there. Only a slight move there for Zurich, and in Paris it gained more than half of a percent there.
Well, markets in the Asia Pacific region are done for the day with a lot of green arrows there, too. Japan's Nikkei finished up .2 of a percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng just closed just over 1 percent there. The Shanghai Composite gained more than 3 percent and Australia's ASX finished up 1.3 percent.
A little bit of good financial news there. Oil prices are slowly climbing over $30 a barrel at the moment.
CNN's Richard Quest asked GPS's host, Fareed Zakaria, why the world economy needs to be concerned with low oil prices? FAREED ZAKARIA, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS HOST: There are two problems. It's
falling so far so fast it's causing a ripple of political instability. So, for example, Venezuela is going to implode. It's going to default on their debts. It's going to produce repercussions because hold that debt.
Venezuela is a small country. Brazil will probably implode at some point. If you look at what's happening in Iraq. Iraq is probably going to fall apart. Nigeria. All of these countries where oil is 50, 60, 70 percent of government revenue are all of a sudden facing a fiscal nightmare.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's their problem they ran their economies badly.
ZAKARIA: Well, guess who loaned them the money, the Western banks. In the United States, we often forget, the United States is the largest producer of liquid hydrocarbon in the world today.
There is a lot of credit tied up with that. That is unwinding. It's short term choppy. In the long run we'll have -- we'll have cheap gas, but as John McCain said in the long run, we're dead.
CHURCH: And you can head to our web page for more on the roller coaster ride for oil prices and a look at why the oil producers are flooding the market and you can find that all at money.cnn.com.
Well, Pope Francis has wrapped up the third day of his Mexican tour. He presided over a mass in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest, least Catholic state. And Chiapas is also home to a largely indigenous population. Drawing the mass read in three native languages. The pope asked the people for forgiveness for years of exclusion and destruction of their land.
Later, the pope spoke at a stadium in the capital of Chiapas before tens of thousands of people. Several families were given the chance to meet and speak with the Roman Catholic leader and receive his blessing.
And here's the pope's itinerary for Tuesday. First, he will travel to Morelia to attend mass with priests, seminarians and other religious leaders. He'll also visit the city's cathedral, and later, he will speak to young people at the Jose Maria Morelos Pavon Stadium.
Well, coming up, music's biggest stars turned out for this year's Grammy Awards. We will have a look at the night's big performances and who's taking home a Grammy. That's next.
Plus, we'll take you to this village in Germany, home to Donald Trump's ancestors. What his distant relatives have to say about his bid for U.S. president. Back in a moment with that and more.
[03:40:09] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Look at that. The 58th annual Grammy Awards was filled with epic performances and moving tributes including Lady Gaga's performance honoring the late David Bowie. She blazed through series of the singer's most memorable tunes while dressed as one of Bowie's his alter egos, Ziggy Stardust. David Bowie passed away of course last month.
Well, stars from every genre turned out for the music's biggest night in Los Angeles on Monday. Pop princess Taylor Swift won three Grammys including one of the night's most prestigious awards album of the year for "1989." In her acceptance speech she promoted the importance of self-empowerment and seemed to fire back at Kanye West's jab at her in his new album.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR SWIFT, POP PRINCESS: There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame, but if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people side track you, some day when you get where you're going you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you, who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Powerful message there. And Kendrick Lamar received a powerful standing ovation for his Grammy performance.
The rapper led the pack with 11 nominations and took home five awards including best rap album.
[03:45:05] British male (ph) Ed Sheeran was awarded song of the year for "Thinking out Loud." and Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars took home record of the year for their smash hit "Uptown Funk."
Joining me now to talk more about the Grammy's is entertainment journalist Holland Reid. Thank you for joining us.
HOLLAND REID, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: So, of course, what were the big moments? We have to stop with that, what will everyone be talking about in the hours ahead?
REID: You know, I loved to see Taylor Swift always come in as our darling and do a star studded entry performance. And then we also love the fact that Lady Gaga gave tribute to David Bowie, which was fantastic. She embodied him. It was fantastic.
And then I don't feel like there was a huge performance that just stood out for the entire Grammy's this year. It was like, you know, ginormous, I swear, where we would look at and say, hey, this is something that we, you know, like a Michael Jackson or Beyonce.
We love Lionel Ritchie but it was -- it was -- it kind of stopped there. It was great. There were great performances. But I would say it stopped at David Bowie, it stopped at maybe Taylor Swift and a few other performances in between there. Carrie Underwood did a great duet. That was about it for me. CHURCH: But you picked record of the year.
REID: I did.
CHURCH: Right? "Uptown Funk." So, that was obviously you saw that as very deserving.
REID: I thought, first of all, "Uptown Funk" we saw in viral videos, we saw at the Super Bowl, we saw it in everybody was streaming this like on a regular basis. This was something that everyone just gravitated to. It was a happy song. It was an uplifting song.
Nobody -- there was -- nothing about this song that anybody could look down on and it was something that everybody just -- it was such a fun song. You cannot distance yourself from it. So "Uptown Funk" hands down best song of the year. Glad it won. That's all I can say.
CHURCH: And Taylor Swift, she took home album of the year.
REID: She did.
CHURCH: And then she pointed out herself, she's the first woman to win that twice.
REID: She did.
CHURCH: And she was making the point to everyone, too, don't ever let anyone put you down.
REID: Why not? I mean, I think the year of anybody telling you what you can't do, you know, we've got possibly a woman for president, we've got all of these different proponents coming in as political.
Taylor Swift has been such a phenomenal woman along with our Beyonce's and other people. Don't let anybody tell you what you can't do. And so, her winning this award I feel like with anyone else coming in and saying, hey, I got this, you can get this two years in a row, please don't hate. Get in formation. I said it.
CHURCH: There's room on the stage for everyone.
REID: There's room on the stage for everyone.
CHURCH: Yes.
REID: And then she did it. And it was awesome to see.
CHURCH: Holland Reid, thank you so much.
REID: Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.
CHURCH: And it wasn't just rappers and pop stars who won Grammy's this year. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter took home the award for best spoken word album for the audio recording of his memoir "A Full Life, Reflections of 90." And this is the second time Carter has been honored with a Grammy. He won in the same category back in 2007 for another of his audio books.
OK. So, what do the Heinz Ketchup family and Donald Trump share in common? This small wine making village in Southern Germany, and we explore Trump's roots. That's next here on CNN Newsroom. Back in a moment.
[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Weather watch time across the Americans. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
Storms they're rocking and rolling like Elvis Presley back in the 1960s. Look at this, right across portions of Southern Georgia onto Southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle active area of thunderstorms associated with a frontal boundary. That is probably spark off some severe weather.
But also wintry weather across parts of Northeastern United States over the past 24 or so hours. So, we could still see some additional accumulations. Some of the heaviest going to be back towards the great lakes there. A possibility of a foot, maybe a two feet of snow in a very localized band across that region.
But you put this in perspective. Divide this region in a half. You notice 1400 winter storm reports on the northern periphery to the south we go. Over 100 severe storm reports across the southern periphery of this. So, certainly, an active pattern across that region of the United States.
There are some couple disturbances right here across the portions of the northwestern area of the Pacific. This will eventually push in. Of course, Washington State, Western British Columbia. To the south though, we are still seeing a high and dry pattern take place across Los Angeles.
Temperatures are up to 28, flip that number around, you have the Fahrenheit number of 82 degrees. That is what it is across Los Angeles for your Tuesday. Well, Montreal, a wintry mix. There are around 4 degrees or so is the forecast high across that region. And down towards San Juan, around Caracas temperatures around 29 up to 32 degrees with mostly sunny skies.
And we'll leave you with the conditions around South America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: All right. Let's return for a moment to the U.S. presidential campaign. Republican candidate, Donald Trump is proud of his German roots, which go back to a small village named Karlstadt.
CNN's Atika Shubert took a trip there, in fact, and asked his relatives what they thought about Trump running for president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: My grandfather, Frederick Trump, came to the United States in 1885. He joined the great gold rush. He did fantastically well. He loved this country.
So, they were from Germany. I have great German heritage. I'm very proud of it. Great place, but we all love the United States the best. But you know what, I love Karlstadt also.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to Karlstadt, South Germany, population, 1200. Its local vintage, a dry Riesling. Famous sons include Henry Heinz, the ketchup king and this guy. Yes, Karlstadt is the ancestral home of Donald Trump.
Simone Vandal, a great cousin-in-law of Trump made "The kings of Karlstadt." The documentary on her hometown's Trump connection just before he launched his U.S. presidential bid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel any Karlstadt values in your blood?
TRUMP: Well, the people in Karlstadt are very reliable, strong people, and I feel that about myself. Yes, I'm strong and I'm very reliable. I'm on time. I get things done. And that's basically a whole German culture, not just Karlstadt. I mean, that's a German culture. And, you know, I'm proud to have that German blood, there's no question about it. Great stuff.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): I wasn't surprised he decided to run for president, she tells me. I think I always knew he was going to do something like this.
Karlstadt Mayor, Thomas Gifford (ph), took us for a tour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. That's relatives to Trump.
SHUBERT: Just outside the house a car pulls up and a man leans out to say we served Karlstadt wine at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. Maybe there will a Karlstadt wine at the U.S. presidential inauguration.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
SHUBERT: Axle's master's family is more Heinz than Trump. They had been making wines since the 1600s. He figures Trump does have one distinctive Karlstadt trait?
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
[03:55:05] "Karlstadters are certainly confident," he says. And Trump is not short of confidence. A 10-minute walk away that Karlstadt country ladies association is busy making herring salad for Ash Wednesday. In keeper Veronica says Trump just wouldn't fit in Karlstadt today. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): Personally, I think he's too much of a radical.
SHUBERT: "We're a friendly place," she says.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUBERT: No one we spoke to seemed to think that Trump would visit Karlstadt any time soon, president or not, but everyone recommended he try the local delicacy, stuffed pig stomach.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Karlstadt, Germany.
CHURCH: All right. Well, big news for "Star Wars" fans. Filming is now underway on the next movie in the sci-fi series. And filmmakers just released this teaser.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cut. Beautiful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 8!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: It doesn't give too much away, does it? We also found out Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro are joining the cast. "Star Wars" episode 8 arrives in theaters December 2017.
Thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Early Start is next for our viewers in the U.S. And for the rest of you, elsewhere, stay tuned for another edition of CNN Newsroom. Have a great day.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
