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US Vows to Back NATO Ally Turkey; Rubio, Cruz Step Up Attacks; Pope Wraps Up Mexico Visit; Critical Aid Arriving in Syria; Egypt Urges UK, Russia to Resume Sharmel-Sheik Flights; Uganda Election Underway. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 18, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Republicans Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz step up their attacks on each other's honesty during a CNN town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whenever anyone points to their actual record, they start screaming liar, liar, liar.

MARCO RUBIO, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said he's been lying because if you say something that isn't true and you say it over and over again and you know that it's not true, there's no other word for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And the pope wraps up a five-day visit to Mexico with a call for compassion on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Hello. And welcome to all of our viewers all across the globe. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.

We begin in the Turkish capitol where the U.S. is condemning an attack on a military convoy that killed at least 28 people. And Turkey is now promising to retaliate. This video shows the chaos on the ground where the blast happened in the parliament and the armed forces headquarters in Ankara.

No one has claimed responsibility, but other attacks in Turkey have been blamed on ISIS and Kurdish militants.

CNN senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon joins us from Ankara. So, Arwa, as we reported there, no one has claimed responsibility. But talk to us about what authorities are saying about the likely culprits.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Rosemary, the blast happened just down the road in this military convoy carrying service personnel was stopped at a red light when a vehicle landed with explosives detonated and caused significant numbers of casualties, at 28 and counting possibly among the dead with another 61 plus wounded. This area, this street where this attack took place is lined with

various different military and government installations. Now, no claim of responsibility. No blame being assigned just yet, but the forefront of everyone's mind, two main culprits.

On the one hand you have ISIS that has been blamed for the past attacks that have taken place in Turkey over the last year, but most of those were targeting civilians and tourists, and then you have the PKK, the Kurdish separatist group that Turkey has been locked in. Some pretty intense battles within the southeastern portion of the country but also an entity with whom Turkey has been fighting a 30-plus-year war.

And this is not necessarily the violence that's happening in Turkey isolated from what is taking place inside Syria no matter who is to blame.

Turkey promising a very strong response, but this has understandably shaken not just a population of Ankara, but a population of the nation as a whole.

Once again, not only having to deal with the aftermath for those who lost loved ones, but really having to deal with this notion that their stability, their sense of security is being shaken once again.

CHURCH: Well, Arwa, as you say, the Turkish government promising a very strong response here. What are they likely to do and what difference might people see on the streets in terms of security and other operations, perhaps?

DAMON: You know, Rosemary, no matter what country you go to in the aftermath of these attacks, there's actually very little that the security apparatus can do to try to ease the psyche of a population, even if they line entire streets with troops and soldiers.

That doesn't necessarily help ease the mental, psychological, emotional burden of having to cope with the reality, that you can just be walking out of your house on one day going to work or saying good- bye to your kids and being the victim of one such an attack.

Now, in the past, what Turkey has done, and this is something that has been doing for quite some time now is launching these massive roundups where it detains hundreds of individuals that it blames for acts of terrorism.

It also has been regularly trying to clamp down along the Turkey-Syria border just trying to prevent smuggling of fighters, weapons, explosives from moving across the border. But also, more recently, and again, it is going to depend who it is who is responsible.

But Turkey has been launching fairly intense artillery airstrikes from the Turkish border into Syria, especially into areas that are being held by the Syrian/Kurdish fighting force, the YPG that Turkey also considers to be a terrorist organization. And it views its presence that close to Turkey's border as being something of a direct threat to Turkey's own national security. So, could we possibly see those strike being amped up, could we

possibly see more military security operations rounding up more people? That is a very likely scenario but not necessarily one that is going to really ease the burden that currently does exist on the population when it comes to the very notion of wanting to feel like you're safe.

CHURCH: Indeed. All right. Our Arwa Damon reporting live there from Ankara in Turkey. Many thanks to you.

[03:05:01] Well, critical humanitarian aid is arriving to several war torn cities in Syria. The U.N. says convoys of trucks delivered desperately needed food and medical supplies to five towns on Wednesday. The supply was enough to help nearly 100,000 civilians.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen traveled with one aid convoy to help us see the operation there.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After a long time coming, the first convoys have departed central Damascus on their way to get aid to besieged areas here in Damascus area but also in other parts of Syria as well. Now, some of the places that these convoys are going to are actually near the Syrian capital. One of the places is also Madaya.

Of course, this place shocked the world when images showed people they are starving because they simply didn't have any food and also no medicine as well.

Now the United Nations has accused the Syrian government, rebel groups, and first and foremost, ISIS of using the denial of using food and medicine as a weapon in this ongoing Civil War.

Some of the areas that are reached by these convoys today are in areas that are besieged by the government and others are in areas that are besieged by rebel groups.

However, one of the main areas is besieged by ISIS. That's the Eastern Syrian town of Deir ez-Zor. The United Nations wants to do there is air drop aid in because of course ISIS is not part of any sort of agreement to get relief to people.

Now the U.N. says this is a positive first step but they also demand that from now on convoys be allowed to get into besieged areas to get people aid there.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, near Madaya, Syria.

CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Cuba next month. That is according to sources with knowledge of the plan. The White House is expected to formally announce the long-expected trip just hours from now.

The visit is a culmination of months of work to restore relations between the two neighboring countries. Mr. Obama's administration broke the half century diplomatic freeze between the two nations last year.

The campaign for votes in South Carolina's republican primary is increasingly heated and for good reason. Different polls put different candidates in the lead.

According to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Ted Cruz has squeezed past Donald Trump. Cruz has support from 28 percent of republican voters nationwide compared to Trump's 26 percent, but that two-point lead is well within the poll's margin of error. CNN/ORC poll has Trump far ahead of Cruz in South Carolina with 38 percent of the vote compared to Cruz's 22 percent.

Well, three of the candidates took questions and laid out their positions to the audience in part one of CNN's town hall in South Carolina. Both Trump and Rubio have called Cruz a liar on the campaign trail. Rubio has no apologies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: Well, I said he's been lying because if you say something that isn't true and you say it over and over again and you know that it's not true, there's no other word for it.

And when it's about your record you have to clear it up because if you don't, then people say, well, then it must be true. He didn't dispute it. And he's done that a number of times. We saw what he did to Dr. Carson in Iowa, which is wrong.

We saw yesterday, Trey Gowdy, somebody came up with a fake Facebook post saying Trey Gowdy was no longer endorsing me, a very popular congressman here in South Carolina. So, these things are disturbing and they need to be addressed, then I'll address them, but that's not the core of my campaign.

CRUZ: This is a strange election season in many ways. Both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are following this pattern that whenever anyone points to their actual record, to what they've said, to what they've voted on, to what they've done, they start screaming, liar, liar, liar.

I mean, it is the oddest thing. I can't think of any precedent in any previous republican presidential election. Now, from my end, I have not and will not respond in kind. If they want to engage in personal insults, if they want to go to the mud, I'm not going to say the same thing about them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN is hosting two of these republican town halls ahead of the South Carolina primary. All six republican presidential candidates are taking part. And our Anderson Cooper is the moderator. And you can see part one coming up again on Thursday and part two on Friday at 11 a.m. in London, that's noon Central European Time only here on CNN.

Well, at another town hall in Charleston, South Carolina, a surprising moment when a top republican compared himself to a democratic rival. This is how Donald Trump inadvertently lined up with Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:10:09] MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC ANCHOR: I wanted to describe a candidate to you. The candidate is considered a political outsider by all the pundits. He's tapping into the anger of the voters, delivers a populous message.

He believers everyone in the country should have health care. He advocates for hedge fund managers to pay higher taxes. He's drawing thousands of people at his rallies and bringing in a lot of new voters to the political process and he's not beholden to any super PAC. Who am I describing?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Or any special interests or any donors. You're describing Donald Trump.

BRZEZINSKI: Actually, I was describing Bernie Sanders.

TRUMP: Well, that's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't it -- there are some words.

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you we're different in one primary -- I'll tell you this, one thing that we're very similar on. He knows our country is being ripped off, big league.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now to talk about the race for the White House is Larry Sabato. He is director of center for politics at the University of Virginia. Thank you, sir, for talking with us.

Now in the midst of what appears to be a GOP war playing out amongst most of the candidates, was there any moment that stood out in the republican presidential town hall on CNN Wednesday evening that could potentially change the direction of this presidential race in any way do you think?

LARRY SABATO, VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR: Not change the direction, but I think Ted Cruz continued his battle with Donald Trump and even sharpened it a bit. I think he's decided that he has Trump on the ropes and this is an opportunity for him to, at some point take a plunge or maybe even knock him out.

CHURCH: Does he have him on the ropes?

SABATO: One poll suggest as much. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows for the first time that Cruz is leading Trump by a couple of points. I should suggest to you, though, that many pollsters consider that particular poll, even though it's a gold standard, to be an outlier. It's the only poll that shows Cruz bettering Trump.

CHURCH: Interesting. Yes, we'll keep watching that. So, you, do you feel comfortable possibly seeing that as maybe signaling a change or you don't find that poll reliable in any way? SABATO: Well, I'm going to come down squarely in the middle. It might

be a change, but I know I want confirmation. You know, we have -- we have said over and over again for six months, this is the moment when Donald Trump is going to fall, and as far as I can tell, he's still standing.

CHURCH: Yes, and I want to look at that because when you see he's dominating -- still dominating the polls with South Carolina, but even if he wins that primary, which he more than likely will if we're to believe the polls, what lies ahead for him, do you think, given if there is this slide in the national poll?

SABATO: Well, next, of course, for the republican is Nevada and Trump also has a long lead there. But the real critical test is going to be on March the 1st. That is a Super Tuesday. It's a primary of 14 states and many of them in the South.

This is Ted Cruz's opportunity to break out. It's also Marco Rubio's chance to break out. So, we're going to have a tally on that night, on the night of March 1st, and we'll see who carries how many states.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato talking to me earlier.

Well, on the democratic side, voters in Nevada are split when it comes to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders ahead of Saturday's caucus there.

According to a new CNN/ORC poll of likely democratic caucus goers, 48 percent say they support Clinton, while 47 percent are for Sanders.

The pope has wrapped up his visit to Mexico with a gesture that sparks some criticism from across the U.S. border. The details still to come.

And it has been more than three months since a Russian plane departed from the Sharm el-Sheikh Airport in Egypt before it was blown up in the skies. CNN shows you exclusively what the airport has done to improve security there.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Christina Macfarlane with your CNN world sport headlines.

We start with the Champions League round of 16 where Real Madrid visited Roma. Cristiano Ronaldo let his feet to do the talking in response to his (Inaudible) ahead of the game. Despite being the competition's all-time top scorer with 88 goals in 121 appearances.

The Portuguese would get his 89th goal in the 57th minute to help boost Los Blancos to a 2-0 win. Real Madrid carry a two away goal advantage into the second leg Bernabeu on March 8th.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi not stop his 300 La Liga goal against Sporting Gijon to send them 6 points clear at the top of the table. In fact, it was a brace from Messi followed up by Luis Suarez taking the third. Barca have now 64 points from 24 matches, six more than Atletico Madrid and seven more ahead of Real Madrid.

Calling his comments, quote, "abhorrent," sports manufacturing giant, Nike has dropped Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao from its list of sponsored athletes. The announcement Wednesday comes after Pacquiao who is also in the running for a Senate seat in the Philippines made comments earlier this week saying that gay people are worse than animals.

That's a look at your World Sport headlines. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, leaders across Europe are finalizing their positions ahead of crucial talks on Britain's role in the E.U. European Council president, Donald Tusk warned that no deal with Britain was certain and urged nations to compromise.

There are reports that four Eastern European countries, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have rejected some of the proposals, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a more positive tone for Britain when she spoke earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (TRANSLATED): She says Cameron's demands are far from being demands that just for Britain. In some cases, you might say quite the opposite. Many issues are issues that are justified and necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And of course, the stakes are pretty big, from the economy to migrant rights to trade negotiations. A lot is riding on this decision. CNN money editor at large, Richard Quest explains.

RICHARD QUEST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS SHOW HOST: It's called Brexit. The very word conjures up something quite painful. It's the idea that the British people may vote to leave the European Union. That will be the first country to do so.

The British government with the Prime Minister, David Cameron at the helm, has been renegotiating its relationship with Europe. A deal has been done of sorts that would return sovereignty to London.

It would also limit the right of migrants to claim benefits in the U.K., but it's highly controversial. Other E.U. countries also want something out of this deal. Everybody says they want Britain to stay in, but the British people are not at all sure they want to be part of the E.U. anyway.

While there are strong commercial reasons for staying in Europe, but the Britt's don't like all of the social bit that does along with the deal.

[03:20:07] So, in the next 18 months, the British people will get a chance to vote on the referendum. If they vote to leave, then Brexit becomes a reality and things get very messy.

CHURCH: Richard Quest there.

Well, pope Francis is on his way back to Rome after wrapping up his visit to Mexico. He got a warm sendoff from children as he walked to his plane in Ciudad Juarez. The pope's five-day tour included meetings with church leaders and people affected by drug violence.

Now the last papal event was a mass in Ciudad Juarez, a city known for its drug violence. The pope's visit prompted reaction in the U.S. as the issue of immigration dominates the 2016 presidential race.

Shasta Darlington reports.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A simple gesture with complicated symbolism. Right before his open air mass in Juarez, Mexico, Pope Francis prays and gives blessing at the American border. Partaking in the moment from the other side of the fence, hundreds of so-called Francis' VIPs, migrants now living in the U.S. Here's some of the pontiff's message later at the mass.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH POPE (TRANSLATED): Let us say it together and response to the suffering on so many faces. In your compassion and mercy, oh, lord, have mercy on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Immigration has been a major issue in the U.S. presidential race with hard liners calling for deportations. And Donald Trump saying he'll build a huge wall among America's southern border.

The Argentine pope, meanwhile, has spoken against such barriers even calling them a, quote, "form of suicide." Juarez is a sprawling Northern Mexican City plagued by corruption and violence for years, and was once the murder capital of the world.

The mass just one part of a busy day for the pontiff. He also spent Wednesday offering blessings and hope to inmates at an area prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCIS (TRANSLATED): We come from inside here to reverse the situations which generate more extortion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Pope Francis has now departed Mexico and is en route to the Vatican.

Shasta Darlington, Juarez, Mexico.

CHURCH: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calls evidence of china's increased militarization in the South China Sea a serious concern. He is urging Beijing to resolve its land dispute with may bring countries through diplomacy and not military force. He says the U.S. will talk further with China in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Beijing says it's acting in self-defense and its sea and air defenses have been on Woody Island for years.

Well, Egypt is urging the U.K. and Russia to resume flights to and from the Sharm el-Sheik Airport. Flights have been suspended since October when a Russian plane blew up over the Sinai Peninsula shortly after takeoff.

CNN has been granted exclusive access to the security operations there and here is our Ian Lee.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The remains of Metrojet 9268, 224 passengers and crew perished in the Egypt Sinai. Russia, the U.S., and U.K. blamed terrorism. ISIS claimed responsibility. Egypt says the investigation is still underway.

Experts scrutinized security at the deporting airport at Sharm el- Sheikh. Moscow and London banned flights. Three months later, Egypt's South Sinai governor insists it's time to resume flights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHALED FOUDA, SOUTH SINAI GOVERNOR (TRANSLATED): We've completed all the security measures that should be in place at the airport in the city, he says. The ball is now in the court of countries to resume flights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Airport officials say the screening process is more rigorous. Every passenger receives a thorough pat down. Even employees and security personnel unlike before. Twenty percent of bags receive a random search. Officials doubled the number of security personnel.

Bomb sniffing dogs now patrol from the entrance to baggage handling and more cameras monitor every movement. The few passengers still flying expect long lines. The new measures aren't meant to prevent a bomb like this homemade bomb that ISIS says blew up the Russian plane. Recent reports suggest an airport employee smuggled in the explosive.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LEE: "Every employee has been screened and investigated," the governor tells me, "but no one has been arrested. No Egyptian has been held responsible for this as has been reported. I completely refute all reports."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:25:08] LEE: Officials say everything now entering the service entrance is scanned as well. One of the new security measures since the October crash that we can't show you are the Army Special Forces that not only secure inside the airport but also around it.

Russia's Minister of Transport commented on the situation Saturday saying "It depends on be the Egyptian side. When they create necessary conditions that will meet the safety requirements, we will check them, make sure and then resume the flights immediately."

Egypt says it's ready to go. Now it needs to convince others to get on board.

Rosemary, there were experts at the airport when we were in Sharm el- Sheikh, going over it trying to determine if these security measures are up to standards. Now Egyptian say that they are, but it really is up to the Russians and the Britt's to determine if it is safe enough to resume.

But the Egyptians have a very vested interest into resuming flights. Three quarters of the tourists that would normally in Sharm cannot physically make it because of that flight ban. And the governor told me that is costing the city roughly $300 million a month.

So, Egyptians definitely want to get those flights resuming, especially for a country that's economy is suffering so much.

CHURCH: Yes. And, Ian, while Egypt insists the country is safe and secure, it's also cracking down on those who actually monitor the security services. What can you tell us about that?

LEE: Well, yesterday the Medines Center, this is an organization that monitors torture as well as provides treatment for torture victims, they were told that they were going to have to shut down. Now this has been described as politically motivated.

The government is saying that it is the ministry of health saying that they have violated some regulations, although those regulations haven't been put out there. But this is an organization that goes back to 1993, has been instrumental in documenting violations of human rights.

It came out with a report recently about violations last year saying that roughly 500 people died while in police custody, and there are over 700 documented cases of torture.

So, this has a lot of people seeing this as being very politically motivated. And this also comes at a time when human rights groups are saying there is a crackdown on the sorts of NGOs.

Also, there has been an increase, they say, of enforced disappearances when someone is picked up by the police and essentially they disappear for an extended period of time, sometimes indefinitely according to rights groups. So, this comes at a very contentious time here in Egypt.

CHURCH: All right. CNN's Ian Lee reporting live for us from the Egyptian capitol. Many thanks to you.

We will take you to a refugee camp in Northern France where squalor migrants are telling the world they deserve better. That story, next on CNN Newsroom.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to our viewers all across the globe. I'm Rosemary Church.

I want to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour.

The U.S. is vowing to stand behind its NATO ally, Turkey, after an attack in the country's capital. At least 28 people were killed Wednesday in a blast near a military convoy.

No one has claimed responsibility. Other attacks in Turkey have been blamed on ISIS and Kurdish militants.

The war-torn Syria and a major humanitarian development. Aid convoys reached five besieged towns Wednesday to deliver badly needed food and medical supplies. The U.N. says this supply is enough to help nearly 100,000 civilians.

For the first time, U.S. presidential candidate Ted Cruz is beating Donald Trump in a national poll. The NBC Wall Street Journal survey shows Cruz with a 28 percent of likely republican primary voters, Trump has 26. Now this is a statistical tie, which some pundits say may -- this poll is an outlier and doesn't reflect real movement for Cruz.

Well, Turkey is promising to retaliate for what it calls a vial and dishonorable attack in the Turkish capitol of Ankara. At least 28 people were killed in an explosion near a military convoy. No one has claimed responsibility.

Now CNN international correspondent Ivan Watson has covered the region extensively and joins us now from Hong Kong. So, Ivan, as we said there, no claim of responsibility, but who do Turkish authorities think may be behind this?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, there are two armed and determined groups that the Turkish government is essentially fighting these days. It's ISIS on the one hand. On the other, it is Turkey's long-time enemy, the PKK or Kurdistan worker's party.

As an important bit of news that comes out one of the PKK's leaders, a man named Cemil Bayik has spoken to the Firat News Agency, which is a PKK mouthpiece, in which he said that he doesn't know who conducted the attack, but the act could have been a retaliation for the, quote, "inhumane, savage, genocidal massacres against our people."

Now what he's referring to are the ongoing clashes between PKK militants and Turkish security forces in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country. The PKK has been fighting a war against the Turkish State for around 30 years now. It's claimed tens of thousands of lives.

A peace process that looked promising collapsed last summer and the fighting has really escalated in recent months with the Turkish security forces using some controversial methods, such as imposing curfews on entire cities and towns where PKK militants have dug themselves in.

So, that is one development that may contribute to figuring out who might be behind this most recent attack. It's important to note that there have been at least four now major bombings that have rocked Turkey in the last six months.

[03:35:03] The previous three attacks, which have claimed the lives of about 138 people at least in Ankara, Istanbul and the border town of Suruts have all been linked to ISIS militants. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And, Ivan, when you consider those multiple attacks, what sort of pressure might this be putting the Turkish government under and how might it react?

WATSON: It's in a very difficult position right now because, again, the Turkish government is supporting the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but we are seeing ISIS militants active inside Turkey carrying out devastating suicide bombings, and in some cases even linked to the murders and beheadings of Syrian anti-ISIS activists who sought shelter in Turkish cities.

On the other hand, this war that has ebbed and flowed against the PKK for 30 years, it has re-ignited in recent months with unforeseen consequences in Southeastern Turkey. The Kurds make up 20 percent of the population in Turkey.

They're the largest ethnic group, so escalation of that conflict will lead to further instability not only in the southeast but also in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, which is also has a population of more than a million ethnic Kurds.

Either way, it's very complicated and it comes at a time when the Turkish government is dealing with a populous that is politically polarized and with refugee crisis on its borders with Syria. Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to our Ivan Watson who's bringing some analysis and perspective to this.

As we were speaking, the Turkish prime minister has been speaking. We're going to continue to monitor this and anything newsworthy, of course, we will share with you.

But let's continue for now. On the ISIS assault in Syria and Iraq has forced millions of people to flee for their lives.

Our Christiane Amanpour takes us to a refugee camp in France where amid the squalor refugees continue to dream of a better life in the United Kingdom.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the men, the women, and the children who dreamed of a better life in Europe, this is it. This is where their journey has stalled. Thousands of people are stuck between two of the continent's richest nations, France and Britain. The Grande-Synthe Refugee Camp is in Dunkirk, not far from the better

known jungle camp in Calais. Seven-year-old Mani is playing in the mud near his family's tent. His father, Abass (ph), invites CNN in for tea to meet everyone else. His wife Suad (ph) is five-months pregnant. His daughter Meley (ph) is 4, and this is Manna, she is 2.

The family have lived in this camp for nine months and like so many here, they fled Iraq, they left after Abass' (ph) parents were killed in a bomb attack in the market in Kirkuk. And now they dream of starting a new live. Mani talks about going to school in Britain. He's even been practicing his English.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three, four, five.

AMANPOUR: The family doesn't know how or when they'll make it. These are the conditions they endure. Twenty showers for 3,000 people and just 44 toilets. Some people here can afford to stay in hotels, but because they don't have their passports, they can't.

Instead, they rely on the kindness of strangers, volunteers compelled by conscience to help, to bring tents, food, blankets, clothes, and boots. On this morning, French doctors and workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres provide medical help as they do four times a week. The cases they treat indicate the harshest of conditions they endure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELIQUE MULLER, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: Mainly it's linked to the weather so we have some upper and lower respiratory tract infection. Mainly for the children as well, so we have as well some scabies and it is quite difficult to completely eradicate because of the living condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: The refugees here claim 15 to 20 people succeed at illegally crossing the border into Britain every night. And if you got the money, you can pay smugglers $10,000 to take you that short distance they say.

But for those who have neither the strength nor the money, there's no option but to wait and to hope and to try to tell the world that they deserve better as one man puts it.

[03:40:04] CHURCH: And that was our Christiane Amanpour reporting. And if you would like to help out, and find out how to help those caught up in Syria's Civil War, just go to cnn.com/impact. There you will find a list of organizations supporting those most in need. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well, polls are open in Uganda where voters are lining up to cast their ballots in the presidential election. They will decide whether to re-elect current President, Yoweri Museveni for another term. The former Guerilla leader has been in power since 1986.

Well, CNN's Robyn Kriel joins me now from Nairobi in Kenya with the details on this. So, Robyn, how likely is it that Museveni will win another term?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, all indications point that the current incumbent President, Yoweri Museveni will likely be voted in. But what we can tell you, Rosemary, is that there has been -- there is a reported very large turnout at a number of polling stations across the country, people lining up just as dawn was breaking.

The polls opened at 6 a.m. local time. So, there has been a very large turnout. Also complains of the electoral documents not arriving in time, that there's stationary that needs to be used by the various electoral commission of people on the ground.

They said that a number of their documents did not arrive in time. So, there were complains about polls, polling stations only opened quite a lot later.

We can also tell you, Rosemary, that there have been increasing tensions on the ground in recent days between the incumbent President, Yoweri Museveni, he, of course controls government and the military and his main opposition candidate, Kizza Besigye.

[03:45:00] CHURCH: And, Robyn, not sure if you're still able to hear us there, but let's talk about just how free and fair these elections are likely to be. And you mentioned Museveni's opponent there. Talk to us about what's being offered, what he offers the voters and what the main issues are here, even though it appears that Museveni will win another term.

KRIEL: Well, they do expect, Rosemary, a very large turnout of the under 35-year-old voters, and for them, those key issues are going to be youth employment, hospitals, that's really come under scrutiny in recent days, health care in Uganda which the opposition parties have really bought to the forefront highlighting the poor conditions in a number of government hospitals across the country as well as various other issues, including, as I said, employment.

A huge, huge issue on the forefront as well, as Museveni foreign policy which a number of opposition candidates have labeled as bullish and furthering his own gain.

So, those are some of the issues likely to come to the forefront. As you said though, there have been rising tensions between the opposition and his key -- the incumbent rather, and his key opposition candidate, Kizza Besigye, just arrested on Tuesday for what the police and military said was an illegal rally of sorts.

He was taking one specific direction through a part of town that they said would have been extremely disruptive, the central business district of Kampala. And so, he was arrested and briefly detained.

However, this is, he's no stranger to that. He has been arrested a number of times before in past elections. There were also been complains from the opposition parties of irregularities. Nothing coming out as of yet today of the then delayed open of some polling stations. But in the last elections, the European Union, and I'll read you that quote verbatim, "The European Union observer mission said that the incumbency compromised severely the level playing field between the competing groups."

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to Robyn Kriel there bringing us up to date on the situation for the Ugandan elections from her vantage point there in Nairobi, Kenya. Many thanks to you.

Well, fresh off the warmest year on record, January 2016 has just set another dubious record. And for more on that, we find out the details from our meteorologist Derek Van Dam who joins us from the International Weather Center. So, Derek, that dubious record.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The dubious record, Rosie, is that January is, indeed, the warmest January on record, potentially the warmest months ever recorded depending on which model you're looking at, NASA or NOAA.

But you can see the hot spots, Western Europe into Southern Africa where temperatures spiked all the way to 48 degrees Celsius just outside of Aplington in South Africa. But a lot of people have been asking me, what gives, Derek. Why do you keep talking about this warm world we happen to live in when we have the coldest air in decades impacting Eastern China and the massive record-breaking blizzards that obliterated much of the eastern seaboard with heavy, heavy snow, over two to three feet of snow in some places?

Well, it is possible to have these extreme climatic events during a very warm period of time; it's just that they're not enough to combat the extreme warmth that we've experienced within the past couple of months.

We're breaking today across the Central U.S. And in fact, Moscow has struggled to go below freezing at zero degrees Celsius, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, within the past 17 days. The first 17 days of February.

So, we've got a big difference here, but we all know it's been warm. That's the main concern. But what I want to show you is what this warm weather often brings to various parts of the world. We've seen tumbleweeds in Texas, giant sized tumbleweeds.

But look at what they're going to combat in Australia; this is in a small town in Victoria. And, Rosie, I know you come from this part of the world, but have you ever seen something like this? These people had to clean up for eight hours where some of this just impacting their houses?

CHURCH: I've seen pictures of it but I haven't had to deal with it. Thankfully. It's a much fluffier looking version than what you see in the United States, isn't it?

DAM: That's right, not snow, that's for sure.

CHURCH: All right. OK. Thanks so much, Derek. I appreciate it. DAM: Thanks, Rosie.

CHURCH: We'll have a very short break. We're back in a moment.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is ski watch. I'm Pedram Javaheri watching the pattern across parts of North America where the conditions are dry for at least 24 hours. And then the latter portion of the forecast going in towards Friday afternoon and evening, some snow are possible are portions of Ontario into Quebec under significant about or anything, but still going to be some snow showers coming in with evening showers possible. Around minus three degrees there as your forecast.

And notice, again, 16 centimeters has come down in recent days. Areas like Le Massif have been really struggling around 56 percent of the trails considered open packed powdery conditions, so at least snow fall is good news across that region.

It is going to be largely dry across parts of New England. Temperatures going to be just above freezing with very low moisture to go around. But plenty of moisture out on the Western side of the United States where some snow showers initially going to be rain, then it becomes all snow from, say, Friday into Saturday.

And then we dry it back out again as we approach Saturday night into Sunday. But look at this, some models do a great job of bringing 26 inches around Mammoth Mountain. That could easily pick up over a foot and a half around places like Heavenly and Squaw Valley, about 26 inches is going to go a very long way, and we'll touch on shortly why that is so important.

Because look at this, 4 degrees, some snow showers possible. Squaw Valley, only 12 percent of the trails considered open. So, that two feet of snow going to do wonders here. Wet snow conditions right now across that region.

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CHURCH: A Florida couple has claimed their piece of a $1.6 billion pie. The pair just came forward after last month's historic U.S. Powerball drawing with the second of three winning tickets worth more than $500 million each. The couple decided to take the lump sum after the shock wore off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAUREEN SMITH, U.S. POWERBALL WINNER: They are numbers that I played for years, but I very rarely play and I played and I went to bed and the next morning when Dave got up.

DAVID KALTSCHMIDT, U.S. POWERBALL WINNER: Yes, I went to go to work and it was like 6 a.m. You know, we had just had a Saturday drawing before and she had circled all the winners on that one, and when I woke up Wednesday there was no circle on it. Oddly enough, I checked the ticket and everything matched up so I said, she's messing with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, the other two tickets were sold in Tennessee and California. The California winner has not come forward.

A New Yorker's lost wallet became front page news after the person who found it wrote him a letter. The finder returned some of the man's belongings, but said they kept the cash because they needed weed. Only in New York, right?

Here's Jeanne Moos with that.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He went to a Rail Co concert in Brooklyn and when Reilly Flaherty, he got home, he realized, uh-oh, I lost my wallet.

REILLY FLAHERTY, LOST WALLET IN NEW YORK CONCERT: I had that classic freak out moment.

MOOS: But the really freaky part happened later.

FLAHERTY: Two weeks later, you know, this crazy envelope just shows up. Dear Reilly Flaherty, I found your wallet and your driver's license that had your address, so here's your credit cards and other important stuff.

MOOS: That's the good news even though Reilly had already replaced his license and credit cards. The bad news...

[03:55:01] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kept the cash because I needed weed.

FLAHERTY: The Metro card because, well, the fare is $2.75 now and the wallet because it's kind of cool.

MOOS: At least the wallet nipper has good taste. It's a handmade leather wallet. Reilley posted the letter on social media writing, "Thanks, I think." Next thing you know the letter is on the front page of the paper and is being read aloud on national TV.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enjoy the rest of your day, toodles, anonymous.

MOOS: Toodles what kind of half Good Samaritan half-feet talks like a teenager?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Toodles.

FLAHERTY: The ironic thing really is that, you know, we could have been good friends, right? Both like Rail Co and in music, same taste in wallets.

MOOS: It's such a New York thing, a little selfish, a little selfless.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anonymous' honesty is like actually kind of charming?

FLAHERTY: You know, we've got this spot smoking modern say Robin Hood that's out there.

MOOS: Sending a hand scrolled letter with a Charlie Brown stamp. Maybe that's a clue. Maybe Charlie Brown did it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good grief.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

CHURCH: Well, at least they got it half right.

All right. Well, we have gone from little red wagons to little red Tesla's Radio Flyer, maker of the red wagon, has created this new cherry red ride. It's a Tesla model-S car made just for kids. The slick ride tops out at a cool 9 kilometers an hour. Kids can choose other paint finishes and even plug in their music players there.

There you go, it sells for a little less than the bigger model, about $500. There you go, right? Others might get that instead, right?

Coming up, breaking news, Turkey's prime minister points fingers in Wednesday's car bomb in Ankara. We are live in the Turkish capitol. With more on that after the break.

I'm Rosemary Church. Another edition of CNN Newsroom still to come.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)