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CNN NEWSROOM

Southern California No Break from Mother Nature; Trump Says No Collusion in his Team; President Moon Thanked President Trump Over Phone; Thieves Robbed Ritz Hotel in Paris. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 11, 2018 - 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, HOST, CNN: The death toll is rising in Southern California after mud slides engulfed entire neighborhoods. The latest on the search for survivors.

Trump talks collusion, immigration, and North Korea and perhaps most surprising of all, the president known for calling people names and stretching the truth once tough libel laws.

And in Paris the search for the brazen thieves who grabbed millions in jewels from the Ritz.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.

The death toll in Southern California is rising after a wall of mud careening from a fire-ravaged hillside took aim at neighborhoods below. At 17 people were killed in Santa Barbara County, 17 more people are missing, including a couple in their 80s.

From the air you can see neighborhoods swallowed in mud, and on the ground you can see where the river of dirt and debris took down trees and power lines knocked homes off their foundations. This gives you an idea how deep the muck is in some places.

This is TV star Oprah Winfrey trenching through the mess in her yard in Montecito.

Well, one official says there was literally a carpet of mud and debris everywhere. At last report, hundreds of people are still waiting to be rescued. It happened while most people were asleep.

Our Paul Vercammen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The wall of mud came in the middle of the night just obliterated this little neighborhood to turn the houses into matchsticks, blew them off the foundation and threw them up against trees.

Survivors became heroes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a little baby dug down, found a little

baby. We got it out, got the mud out. I hope he's OK. They took him right to the hospital. But it was just a baby four feet under the mud of nowhere under the rocks (Inaudible).

VERCAMMEN: There were many more in need out there like the family in this house surrounded by mud water. The youngest survivor, a newborn baby, all five in the family rescued. Others still searching for their loved ones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just, you know, go down the creek and see what we can find.

VERCAMMEN: This man's mother was swept away while clinging to the back door of her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought she'd be all right. She was in the voluntary evacuation.

VERCAMMEN: What made this mudslide show horrendous the steepness of the terrain. Look up there. The Thomas Fire burn zone above Montecito. It goes from 3,000 feet to sea level in just several miles so the water came off those ashy hillsides and just poured right through here. It had a high velocity, as they call it. And you can look right over here and you'll see where the waters, just a little bit more than a mile from the ocean took a house right off its foundation. Other houses swallowed by mud or destroyed by fire.

Highway 101 the main freeway connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco, in a moment was turned into a river of mud and boulders. Hundreds of homes destroyed or damaged in a natural disaster covering 19,000 acres.

And tonight, many families grieve while others simply hope that their loved ones will find their way home.

Paul Vercammen, CNN, Montecito, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Amber Anderson joins us now via Skype. She is with the Santa Barbara Fire Department. Amber, what is the situation on the ground right now, and what progress is being made to try to find those who are missing?

AMBER ANDERSON, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, SANTA BARBARA CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have a tremendous amount of progress here in the last day and a half. Efforts right now are still focused on that search and rescue effort. We have 17 fatalities to report. We still have 17 people who are unaccounted for that we are aggressively searching this area in hopes that we will find them here shortly.

CHURCH: And of course, the mudslides hit at about 4 in the morning. But resides were aware of the possible dangers in some instances. Why weren't more people evacuated from the area? ANDERSON: I don't know how to answer that specifically. I do know that we didn't have as many people evacuate as we had hoped. They just came off the heels of the Thomas Fire. Without speaking to them individually, I'm not sure how to answer that. We do wish more people had evacuated, but we're fortunate for those that we have evacuated, or that did evacuate, and those that we have been able to successfully rescue out of that debris flow area.

[03:05:03] CHURCH: And what advice are you giving people in the area as the cleanup begins and of course, as the search and rescue continues. And how long will it likely take to get things back to normal? Do you see a possibility of normalcy?

ANDERSON: Right now our effort while we are performing some cleanup, our efforts are still solely on that search and rescue effort. We're hoping it doesn't take too long. We want it to be over sooner rather than later and be able to account for every individual that we have known to be within that debris flow area.

So we're hoping that's very soon. We urged the public to hang tight. I know that not just the people within the debris flow area have been affected but so many people, as highway 101, which is the main corridor that travels through Santa Barbara's south coast has been closed for several days and will be closed until at least the following Monday, which is tremendous impact to our community here on the south coast.

CHURCH: And Amber, as you mentioned, 17 people are reported dead, 17 still missing. What are the challenges involved in trying to locate those missing?

ANDERSON: The challenges are not only locating them. We do have addresses people that we are unable to identify or locate at this time. So we're pinpointing our efforts towards those addresses. But the problem is with that -- excuse me, debris flow, we saw residences travel over a quarter mile to half a mile from the rescue point of some individuals from where their house was where they were seen just moments before that, which makes that search area expand to such a large extent. That's taking us time to get through there.

We have so many resources that have come in to help us over the last 24 hours. We're starting to make significant progress towards those search and rescue efforts.

CHURCH: And Amber, of course we know that wildfires made this area particularly vulnerable to mudslides like this and the instance of flooding. So what changes might be made going forward when it comes to some sort of mandatory evacuation to ensure there's not a situation like this repeated?

ANDERSON: A situation like this is definitely unprecedented and has never been seen in California's history before. I think we're going to take a long hard look at not only the impacts of wildfire but building in general and evacuations and how those are handled in the future.

We did put out early notification, early warnings several days in advance to this rain event, and we'll be looking at that and the impacts that they had with that as well as the successes.

And speaking to incident commanders, they are assured that if we hadn't taken those proactive steps in the days before this rain event we wouldn't have the success that we have now. You know, anytime we have loss of life that's a complete travesty and that's something that we never would want to have.

But with that early warning system we know that we have done so much good and we have -- we're assured that we saved more lives than we have lost in the situation that we have right now.

CHURCH: Amber Anderson, we salute you for the work that you and the fire department there in Santa Barbara have done so far, and we wish you the best in locating those 17 people. Thank you so much.

ANDERSON: Thanks very much.

CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump is repeating his claim that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia. It's become a familiar refrain for the U.S. President. In fact, he said it eight times during a news conference with Norway's prime minister on Wednesday.

CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta reports.

JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: President Trump dodged the question of whether he would sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller's team to talk about the Russia investigation, insisting repeatedly as he has in the past that there was no collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll see what happens. I mean, certainly I'll see what happens. But when they have no collusion and nobody's found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely you'd even have an interview.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That's not what the president said last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be willing to speak under oath, to give your version of this event?

TRUMP: One hundred percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: At a news conference the president took another whack at clarifying his position on immigration, insisting that a wall on the border with Mexico be a part of any deal to protect the roughly 800,000 undocumented DREAMers from deportation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I really believe they're going to come up with a solution to

the DACA problem, which has been going on for a long time, an maybe beyond that immigration as a whole. But any solution has to include the wall because without the wall it all doesn't work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That was an attempt to clean up his previous comment that signaled some flexibility on the wall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This group comes back hopefully with an agreement, this group and others, from the Senate, from the House, comes back with an agreement, I'm signing it. I mean, I will be signing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Before the news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Welcome back to the studio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president bash in the praise he says he received from the news media after his televised meeting with lawmakers on the DREAMer issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know some of them called it a performance, I consider it work. But I got great reviews by everybody other than two networks who were phenomenal for about two hours.

[03:10:05] Then after that they were called by their employers to say, wait a minute. And unfortunately, a lot of those anchors sent us letters saying that was one of the greatest meetings they've ever witnessed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: To back up the president's claim that he received letters from news anchors cheering his performance, the White House said along a list, not of letters but of video clips and tweets from journalists, some from CNN applauding the openness of the meeting. Still the president went on to complain that the coverage he's received is just not good enough. So he once again threatened to see changes to the nation's libel laws. Another threat to the First Amendment rights of the American free press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are going to take a strong look at our country's libel laws so that when somebody say something that is false and defamatory about someone that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts. Can't say things that are false, knowingly false and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president also took time to criticize the nation's judicial system. One day after a federal court in California temporarily halted his administration's plans to end deportation protections for the DREAMers. Mr. Trump tweeted, "It just shows everyone how broken and unfair the court system is when the opposing sign in a case such as DACA always runs to the ninth circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts."

The president also attacked Senator Dianne Feinstein calling her sneaky after the California democrat released the hearing transcript from one of the founders of the Fusion GPS which developed the dossier that allege widespread collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Trump tweeted, "The single greatest witch hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion. Everybody including the dems knows there was no collusion. And yet on and on it goes. Russia and the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republican should finally take control."

President (Inaudible) an apparent need for approval from the news media, something he touched on while looking back at that meeting on the DREAMers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm sure their ratings were fantastic they always are. Which is why I think the media will ultimately support Trump in the end. Because they're going to say if we -- if Trump doesn't win in three years they will all out of business. You guys will be out of business but the boom holders are still going to be there. So that' good. Those are the people I like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Near the end of the press conference the president said, quote, "It has been determined there is no collusion." He said there was no collusion or a variation of that eight times. But of course that has not been determined as of yet, as the special counsel's office has yet to conclude its investigation.

Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: And the White House says President Trump is open to talks with North Korea at the appropriate time under the right circumstances. Mr. Trump spoke on the phone to his South Korean counterpart on Wednesday. Moon Jae-in thanked the president for his leadership resulting in talks between the North and South for the first time in two years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We had a very, very good conversation, and we'll see where it

goes. He's very thankful for what we've done and was so reported today. That we were the ones -- without our attitude that would have never happened. Who knows where it leads. Hopefully it will lead to success for the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And for more let's head to Seoul and CNN's Will Ripley. Good to see you, Will. So President Trump has been taking credit for the talks between North and South Korea, and now the South Korean president appears to be confirming the role he had to play. So what all was said about this in the phone between the two leaders, and what was said about the possibility of direct talks between the U.S. and North Korea?

WILL RIPLEY, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: One thing I would point out, Rosemary, is that these kind of talks are not unprecedented. They have happened many times before under previous U.S. administrations, so this was not necessarily something groundbreaking, although considering the rapidly escalating tensions in recent years under North Korea's current leader Kim Jong-un.

It was significant that the two sides were able to get together this week and come to terms on getting a North Korean delegation to the Olympics, potentially reuniting divided families as early as next month and these upcoming talks about easing military tensions.

So that is significant. And frankly, a lot of experts do believe that the sanctions pressure put on the North Korean government may have played a role. And so, President Moon diplomatically gave a lot of praise to President Trump. I mean, this is a man who's right in the middle because he's trying to work with North Korea.

He was campaigned -- he campaigned on a promise of engaging with North Korea. He wants to try to normalize relations with the North and solidify peace during his presidential term but at the same time he has to deal with the United States and the U.S. expectations of never accepting a nuclear North Korea which means that he has to push for denuclearization which is a huge challenge, frankly.

[03:14:55] But President Trump did tell President Moon something that was a bit different in terms of policy. President Trump has always said he's never going to announce military activities.

But when he was speaking with President Moon he said, I'm reading his quote here. "I hope you let them know that that there will be absolutely no military action as long as inter-Korean talks are ongoing."

President Trump also saying with President Moon that they believe a dialogue will naturally lead to a conversation between the U.S. and North Korea that could eventually lead to denuclearization.

But for a bit of a reality check all you need to do is look at today's Rodo Sinmun, that's the leading newspaper the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers Party of Korea. They wrote an article today about the nuclear program in that country and here's how they described it.

It gives you a real sense of the North Korean mindset when it comes to nuclear weapons. It said, quote, "The nuclear deterrent of the DPRK is the life and soul of the nation that cannot be bartered for anything and the eternal foundation for a rosy future of the country."

North Korea's government has said that they believe nuclear weapons are the key to peace in the peninsula, a view that is counterintuitive to much of the world. Critics of North Korea say that the nuclear weapons are there solely to keep the regime led by Kim Jong-un in power and that is why they -- many believe that North Korea will never give those weapons up.

So it does raise a lot of questions, Rosemary, about these upcoming talks between the North and the South about deescalating military tensions, how much progress can they really make when both sides were just so far apart on this issues of nuclear weapons.

CHURCH: Yes, it's a good point. Will Ripley joining us there. Many thanks to you for that live report.

Let's take a short break now. But still to come, a scathing new report says the U.S. must act now or fall victim to more election meddling from Russia. That story just ahead.

Plus, jewel thieves strike again, this time hitting a luxury hotel in the heart of Paris. The details after a short break. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well, Germany's would-be coalition partners are deciding whether to move ahead with formal talks on forming a new government. The center- left social democrats and Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives both lost votes in September's election. The chancellor turned to the social democrats to consider another so-called grand coalition. They're discussing issues including taxes, Eurozone, reform, and immigration policy.,

Well, U.S. lawmakers is sounding the alarm on a threat that he says isn't getting the attention it deserves. Future attempts by the Kremlin to meddle in American elections.

Our Brian Todd has more now from Washington.

BRIAN TODD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: A jarring new warning that Vladimir Putin's hackers are still targeting America's elections and will only get more aggressive.

A report just out from democratic Senator Ben Cardin of the foreign relations committee who's led the push for sanctions on the Kremlin. He says the U.S. won't be prepared to defend against possible Russian meddling in the 2018 midterm elections or in the next presidential cycle in 2020 unless it takes action immediately. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[22:20:06] BEN CARDIN, (D) UNITED STATES SENATOR: Putin directs these attacks with an asymmetric arsenal, cyber-attacks, disinformation, support for fringe political groups, the weaponization of energy sources.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Cardin and his investigators say the U.S. and its allies have to coordinate their cyber defense against Russia, have to target Putin and his cronies and freeze their money, and they have only a few months to do it before the mid-terms.

Cyber investigators are warning that Putin and his hackers are ready to strike this fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONI GIDWANI, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH OPERATIONS, THREATCONNECT: What we would expect to see are similar efforts to leak compromising information that would embarrass candidates and efforts to use the open nature of our political system and our media environment against us. So, fake news stories or themes that undermine Americans' confidence in our elected leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Cardin's team spent months talking to European officials about how Putin tried to disrupt their elections. In France, they determined that Kremlin used multiple, quote, "warfare tools" to discredit then- candidate Emmanuel Macron, including social media infiltration and hacking the campaign's e-mails.

Putin has always denied meddling in the elections of America and its allies. But experts say the Russian president is trying to sow chaos in any democracy where there is vulnerability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW ROJANSKY, DIRECTOR, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: He sees weaknesses in the domestic politics of Europe, the United States, but also parts of the developing world. If you look at Latin America, if you look at Southeast Asia, if you look at the Middle East, opportunities where Russia can move in and they can advance influence for the Kremlin at the expense of what in the past has been influence fo Washington. That's the sense in which is the contest between Washington and Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Senator Cardin always a vociferous critic of President Trump, balusters the president and his team in this new report for, as he puts it, "turning a blind eye to the Russian threat."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARDIN: Never before has a U.S. president so clearly ignored such a grave threat and a growing threat to U.S. national security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: A White House official is pushing back at Ben Cardin, telling us this threat is far from being ignored. A Department of Homeland Security official told us that department has been coordinating closely with local election officials across the United States and with the U.S. intelligence community to assess the threats and vulnerabilities in the election system and to coordinate cyber tools for combatting Russian hackers in the 2018 midterms.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: One of the most famous and expensive hotels in the world was the scene of a daring smash and grab jewel heist on Wednesday. Thieves said to be wilding access targeted a store in the Ritz Hotel in downtown Paris. Two robbers made off with jewels valued at several million dollars, but three other members of the gang were nabbed at the scene.

CNN's Jim Bittermann joins us now from Paris with the very latest. So, Jim, what more are you learning about this audacious robbery and how likely is it that French authorities will find these two thieves on the run?

JIM BITTERMANN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Rosemary, I'll tell you, these were either some of the bravest or some of the dumbest robbers around because this Place Vendome in the center of Paris while it's home to a number of jewelry stores and luxury shops, it is also home to the justice ministry, which is right next door to the Ritz and where there's a 24-hour guard out front all the time.

There are also stepped up security here in the Place because of a number of robberies over the years here at the various jewelry stores.

So when the five arrived last night, apparently, they ran into -- went into the Ritz around 6.30 with their arm, with an axe, according to some reports, they were dressed as painters. They broke the window of the jewelry store inside the Ritz. And security guards in the Ritz were able to trigger apparently, according to reports, an automatic locking system so that at least three of the five were trapped inside the hotel. Two got away all with some or all the looted.

It's not been confirmed to how much of the loot they were able to get away with and police are now trying to interrogate the three that they have, trying to find out where the other two might be.

It should be said, Rosemary, that they believe that they know who the robbers were and that they have the identities and they've been known to the police for some time, may have been involved in past incident. So, it looks like they're hot on the trail of the two that got away. Rosemary. CHURCH: Interesting. So do we know very much about these three

thieves who were arrested and what they might be revealing to authorities?

BITTERMANN: Other than the fact that they may have been serve -- they may have already served jail time according to some reports that they were known to the police. So, it's unclear at this point.

I should also say that the two that did get away in fact, managed to drive up a one-way street in the wrong direction on a motorbike as they are making to get away and they knocked over a woman in the process. She was not badly injured. Rosemary?

[22:25:05] CHURCH: All right. Jim Bittermann, sounds like authorities might be hot on their tail. I appreciate that report.

Well, there was also robbery in northern Russia by a thirsty thief who made quite an entrance. Local media report he apparently stole an armored personnel carrier and drove it through a forest and into town. He then rammed into a shop window, hopped out and stole a single bottle of wine.

Along the way he also smashed someone's car. Video from social media shows bystanders were remarkably undisturbed. The driver was arrested after onlookers ran him down. Witnesses say he was not surprisingly, drunk.

Well, when we come back, the latest on deadly California mudslides and how even Oprah Winfrey was affected.

And a tense waiting game for young undocumented immigrants. Will they be deported or allowed to stay in the United States?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from all the around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on the main stories we're watching this hour.

Donald Trump repeated his claim that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia eight times and 95 seconds on Wednesday. The U.S. president refused to say if he would submit to an interview with the special counsel. Back in June he said he was 100 percent willing to testify.

Germany's would-be coalition partners are facing their most challenging issues in talks Thursday. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative and the center-left social democrats will decide whether to hold formal negotiations on establishing a new government. Both parties lost votes in the September election.

The death toll in those devastating California mudslides has risen to 17. At least 17 other people are unaccounted for and hundreds are still waiting to be rescued. It comes after flooding rains send a mountain of mud and debris into neighborhoods of Santa Barbara County. Well, the mudslides hit in the middle of the night, and we are now hearing the harrowing stories of what happened and what the deluge left behind. One child was rescued after being buried in the mud. One woman said her friend opened the front door and was swept away.

And there are more stories, including from TV and movie star Oprah Winfrey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:29:57] OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST: How deep the mud is and the house in back is gone. There used to be a fence right here. That is my neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:30:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There used to be a fence right here that is my neighbor's house devastated.

JOHN FINK, SURVIVOR: At 3:30 the rains came. And at 4:00 or quarter to 4:00, something like that, the sky lit up, because some buildings had blown up the gas lines I turns out. Here is all fire is coming down and fire going up and here's all this rain coming down, and you wonder what's happening. I mean it was an incredible experience.

SAM JOHNSON, MUDSLIDE SURVIVOR: Just a house. U know, it's just -- but in a neighborhood this small very single name that turns up that' someone's dad, someone's cousin, got to be the worst part of it all I think. We're just happy for everyone that makes it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Unbelievable. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now. Those images are horrifying. The rains has stopped now, but still the search and rescue operations continues still 17 missing.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN'S METEOROLOGIST: Yes. 500 personnel still on the scene. And 10 rescue dogs that are on the scene trying to find other people that are still unaccounted for. It's incredible to see. They've tallied up some of the numbers here. I just put in the perspective how many homes and businesses had been damage and the cleanup continues across the region. This is just incredible to see these images. 100 homes completely destroyed 300 homes damaged by this torrent of mud and rock. And over 1,500 homes still threaten. What it means exactly is just because a particular area hasn't seen the mudslide actually takes place doesn't mean that the ground isn't still saturated. Doesn't take much to trigger often an additional landslide or mudslide here going forward. That is the concern. Even though there is no rain, as Rosie just mentioned, anything can trigger that, including a small earthquake for instance would loosen that burn area, the scar area that was damaged by the fires just six weeks ago in December and was brought on by heavy rainfall this force of water just showing what Mother Nature can do. By the way, mudslides can travel 35 miles per hour, upwards to 55 kilometers per hour. This is a rainfall forecast going forward. That is the best news we had forecast accumulation nil. We have nothing to talk about, but when you talk about the rainfall totals that did happen over the past two days, really impressive. 150 millimeter for some location near Santa Barbara. You can see the storm just the rotating across southern California and you can see exactly why they had mudslide threat.

We got to switch gears, bringing you to Australia, because they are also facing the potential for flooding across northwest Australia. In fact a tropical cyclone is brewing across this region. Satellite imagery just lighting up like a Christmas tree right now. 65- kilometer per-hour sustained winds. Good news is that dropped about 10 kilometers per hour just with the past updates. That was within the past 30 minutes. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, going forward, however, the storm will re-strengthen as it heads closer and closer to west Australia, the coast here. Just the good news here, that below category 1 Atlantic hurricane status, but still provide a significant amount of rain to this particular region. Over 250 millimeters possible. So the potential for flash flooding exists across Western Australia.

Check out this image sent to us by a viewer in the city, this is called a shelf cloud. There is a fairly common sight, even though it looks very eerie, but to see this you want to duck for cover. All it is, though, Rosie, we'll show another image of this is it, well, it's the bottom of a thunderstorm downdraft that is spread out in all direction that creates this kind of roll clouds that spread out in all directions, it is quite a scene, and people can get very terrified by seeing those in the sky, but a lot of times they're precluded by nice weather, actually.

CHURCH: Yes look very menacing.

VAN DAM: That is right.

CHURCH: So extreme weather conditions all across the globe. You covered it all. Thanks so much Derek. I appreciate it.

Well, leaders of more than 100 U.S. companies are putting a dollar value to the possible deportation of young undocumented immigrants. The executives of the companies, which include Apple, Google, IBM, and Coca-Cola, co-signed a letter to congressional leaders that is also appearing in full-page newspaper ads today. It says in part "the imminent termination of the DACA program is creating an impending crisis for workforce across the country. Studies by economists across the ideological spectrum have also determined that if congress fails to act our economy could lose $215 billion in GDP. On Tuesday President Trump said he want to fix DACA, which expires in March, as longs as border security measures like a wall is a part of that deal.

[03:35:09] Later a federal judge ordered DACA to remain in place while legal challenges play out in court. We'll keep following that story. Hundreds of thousands of so-called dreamers are watching all the developments closely. Their faith hangs in the balance. Sara Sidner introduces to two of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are Americans by all means except on a piece of paper.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Left behind in Guatemala by her mother, melody came to the U.S. at age 9, a year after this picture was taken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking like, I am a 9-year-old girl who had so much hope, (inaudible) mom for the first time.

SIDNER: She was brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came at six months, I wasn't still able to walk or talk.

SIDNER: Undocumented until 2015 they both became recipients of the deferred action for childhood arrivals, or DACA, which allow them to work and live in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We felt like we actually mattered, like I could actually get a library card. I was not able to do that before DACA. I couldn't even rent a book from L.A. County library.

SIDNER: two years later the Trump administration announce it was ending the policy, affecting about 700,000 dreamers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember every single seconds of the announcement and I am clearly.

SIDNER: Then confusion. After this bipartisan meeting were the President seem willing to consider a path to legal status of dreamers. The latest CNN polls says 83 percent of Americans support allowing dreamers to stay in the U.S.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There should be a bipartisan bill. There should be a bill of love.

SIDNER: But some conservative say this is the opposite of being tough on illegal immigration. He tweeted nothing Michael Wolff say about Donald Trump has hurt him as much as the DACA love us right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This people are mad. They are all or nothing people. They got in Trump on the issue of immigration that they had somebody who not just talk tough, but actually walk the walk. But I thank at the end of the day here, Trump is looking for a win.

SIDNER: Republican strategist John Thomas says that means a wall and chain migration would had to be part of the deal. Then hours after this meeting a federal Judge block, the Trump administrations attempt to shut DACA down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This administration has been a roller coaster and it will continue to be a roller coaster until actual legislation is passed.

SIDNER: In the meantime in melody graduated early with a master's degree from USC and now works with (inaudible) an immigration right's group. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was the first in my family to graduate from

college, I could have never imagine that will be my life coming from such humble backgrounds.

SIDNER: Now the try to imagined, what comes next? Sara Sidner CNN Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO)

CHURCH: And coming up on "CNN newsroom" how two young boys lost everything except their lives. Their heartbreaking story, a telling portrait of the unfolding crisis in Myanmar.

Also head, Houthi rebels in Yemen threaten a vital shipping lane in the red sea. We will explain why Saudi Arabia is taking it seriously. We are back in a moment.

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[03:40:22] CHURCH: Two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar are charged with violating the country's official secrets act. They appeared on court on Wednesday, greeted by crowd of journalists wearing black to protest their detention. The men were arrested last month while covering the Rohingya crisis. The charges stem from a colonial era law and could get them up to 14 years in prison.

Many nations, media group and the U.N. secretary-general all calling for the journalist to be released. Meanwhile, the crisis in Myanmar continue to inflict misery. It has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more, many of them just children. Those living in refugee camps are the lucky ones to escape the violence. Annie Gowen is India Bureau Chief for the Washington Post." She recently returned from one such camp. And the story she wrote about her visit gives us a glimpse of tremendous suffering. She writes this, the villagers scattered, some fleeing into the jungle for safety. Jaffa said he took refuge in a small hill overlooking his house and watched as soldiers beat his mother Monira, and three of his siblings -- Samuda 15, Heurshied 7 and Shalieda 3 months. They pushed them into the house, barricaded the door and set the structure on fire. Is family was burned alive inside Jafar said. Annie Gowen joins us now, the details Annie are just horrifying and you document the extraordinary survival of this boy and his younger brother after they witness the shocking murder of their family. How are they dealing with this and what does the future hold for them right now?

ANNIE GOWEN, INDIA BUREAU CHIEF, WASHINGTON POST: Well, it's quite an extraordinary tale as you mentioned and I was getting very emotional even when you were reading it there because it was really such a privilege to meet this little guys. They got separated when military defended on their village and then somehow the older brother spotted his little brother and they ran to reunite with him and they made their way with extraordinary tide of people one. I mean, they have some neighbors but their family had been killed. It took several weeks or several days of any way before they were in the chaos on the camps on the Bangladesh side of the border that they were actual reunited with their uncle and who also have children but now they are caring for the two little boys in their tent. But you know, the future is very uncertain for them. You know their families is uncertain as to whether or not it will ever - the will ever be return home.

CHURCH: Yes, it is just heartbreaking. Of course you write that these two boys keeps realizing they have no parents. Why was their family target, how many other young family suffered similar fate?

GOWEN: It is really hard to know because Myanmar officials have not allowed any access to humanitarian, a small Red Cross presence there but no human rights researcher or any kind of investigators to discern what happen on that side of the border that sort of sparked the crisis and how many live were lost. But the boys said that the military descended upon their village after there was an insurgent Rohingya insurgent attack. They systematically torch houses and murder people and they fled. So that is what happen in their particular case, but that story was repeated many, many times and has been repeated many, many times and many, many families are amongst this population of refugee in the Bangladesh.

CHURCH: And as you mentioned this two orphaned brothers are now living with their aunt and uncle. There are ten of them living in a tent that refugee camp in Bangladesh. What is life like for this families and how long can they all stay in this refugee camp? You say they won't be going back home.

GOWEN: Well, I mean, there's a plan Myanmar and Bangladesh as well as the international groups involve hope at some point the Rohingya can return back to their homelands, but it's very difficult and dangerous proposition for them, they are concerned that they won't be secure when they go back. It is going to be a very long process. There's a feeling that many of them may not be able to return. But life in the camps, I've been there a couple of times now, and in the beginning it is quite chaotic. There are streams of people coming, there are people by the roadside just throwing bag of food and it was a very desperate situation.

[03:45:19] Now it is much more orderly. There is little schools set up for the kids. You know there is obviously food distribution centers and they can play soccer. But of course, you know as Jafar told us, there is nothing good about this camp, you know "I miss my home."

CHURCH: Annie Gowen, it is an extraordinary story that you write documenting the survival of these two young boys, but the world is just wondering what lies ahead for them. Thank you so much for joining us. We do appreciate it.

GOWEN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Although the rebels in Yemen a threatening to block a vital shipping lane through the Red Sea. Unless the Saudi-led coalition stops its air assaults on the Houthi targets. CNN Nic Robertson has more now from Saudi Arabia.

(BEGIN VIDEO) NIC ROBERTSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CNN CORRESPONDENT: the Saudis say

they do take this latest threat by the Houthis seriously and part because there had been attempted attacks by the Houthi on shipping over the past couple of years, over this weekend the Saudis say they thwarted another Houthi attack aimed at a Saudi tanker. They say there were three Houthi vessels involved. One remote controlled full explosives, one vessel with people controlling that boat and another vessel with people trying to film the operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened is from the Houthi using the tactics for remote fast boat and they control it from far distance and that happened while a military ship from the coalition was escorting the tanker. The tanks guard stop that attack and we destroyed the fast boats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now Saudi officials also say they believe the reason the Houthi are saying that they will threaten the shipping if the Saudi's don't stop trying to advance on the important strategic city of (inaudible), because the Saudis say that is important for the Houthis, it generates funds to fight the war and also allows smuggling weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't want to lose that kind of money, which they are calling it as fund for the military effort. Those kind of money should go to the central bank of (inaudible) to support Yemeni people, to pay the salaries for Yemeni people. Shouldn't go to the Houthi, to something they call military effort. It's not their right to take it. And also they want to keep saying that is very important because they want to keep the smuggling the weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: (Inaudible) connecting to the Red Sea is one of the most important and heavily traffic global trade routes, if an oil tanker or rather shipping boat was to be hit by the Houthis that could seriously impact some global trade. Nic Robertson, CNN Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

CHURCH: After a quick break two top movie star caught up on a controversy over pay checks, it is all about men, women and money. A convention design to spotlight new trends, an embarrassing time in the dark. The latest from the consumer electronics show. That is still ahead, please stay with us.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:50:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would it take for you secure?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More. I do not have the money to spare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And for some star in Hollywood that film all the money in the world" with Michelle Williams and Mark (inaudible) is just another example of outrageous pay disparity based on gender. Some actor are speaking out.

(Inaudible) tweeted this "outrageously unfair, but it always been like this. I was never, ever paid even a quarter of what the male lead received. Wahlberg got $1.5 million for all the money we shoot, Williams paid less than in the world $1,000." And Jessica Chastain, tweeted this please go see Michelle performance in "All the money in the world." She is a brilliant Oscar nominated Golden globe-winning actress. She has been in the industry for 20 years. She deserves more than 1 percent of her male co-star salary.

Hard to believe we're still dealing with this, right? Well, while we're on the topic of gender equality, the world economic forum recently published its annual global gender gap report. Here is how long it says it will take for women to live as equals with men. Western Europe is the region most rapidly approaching equality at 61 years. North America is the slowest, it will take almost three times longer at the current rate of progress. CNN is pampering with European journalism center over the coming years and a special interactive section of our website, we will show you the challenges this women face whether it is in the classroom or the work place, in politics or in healthcare and you will see what is being done to bring down barriers wherever they exist. Go to CNN.com/asequalstofindout.

In France the film star Catherine Deneuve and dozens of women writers, artists and academics has spark a furious backlash after they denounced the "me too" campaign as a witch hunt against men. They signed an open letter published in the newspaper "lemond" warning of a new and (inaudible) and denouncing what they said was a hatred of men and sexuality. A publish response from about 30 feminist was labeling Deneuve and the others apologists for rape and defenders of pedophiles. We're also hearing from French people who disagree with the "me too" opponents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATOR): I think that it's t it's not that men. It is not men are all nasty. On the contrary, it allows all the men who have never behaved badly to be brought to the forefront and to say we are not all like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is something that was hidden, and it is coming out of the open and the fact t's coming out an only be a good thing. But we can't slip into caricatures, because that is the risk with this sort of topic. But everyone has to deal with it, were it needs to be dealt with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And since October the "me too movement" has ushered in a social climate in which women feel more comfortable speaking out against sexual harassment and abuse. The world's largest consumer and electronics show naturally features

some power hungry gadgets, so it was a showstopper when the electricity went out. According to Las Vegas officials, condensation from a heavy rainfall short-circuited the convention centers transformers. The power is back and Samuel Burke has our look at the trending electronics.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is supposed to show you what light years ahead, but we were in the dark ages for about an hour during the power outage at the etch there. Do you guys ever thought Samuel Burke would make a good parent, well, now I'm leaving CES with a widow or maybe big surprise? I keep on talking about the fact that wearables were intended for mass market, but that never quite happen. So we see these tech companies going after markets for wearables including wearable for babies. This is a device called Hug-Z, it replicates the heartbeat of a mother or father in this case.

[03L55L00] When you first get it, it costs $79 it attaches to the finger of the new parent and reads the heartbeat and replicates that heartbeat with sound and vibration while the baby is napping or sleeping throughout the night. But the most mindboggling device I have seen literally are the halo sport brain stimulating headphones. Listening to music while at the same time this part of the headphone is sending an electric field to the cerebral cortex, the company says. The NBA team, the Golden State Warriors tried them out, now the U.S. Olympic team. $749 isn't cheap. The company says the way you use them isn't when you are doing an actual game or when you are in training. You use them for 20 minutes, and that creates an hour-long window they say the brain is more susceptible to learning. So maybe one day I'll be trying these out, you'll see me riding down the street on my bike with those on. Lastly this device maybe good for people who are concerned about their elderly parents, grandparents. It is called cardio mode, it cost $200 plus $10 a month subscription. The company says what they are trying to do is detect strokes and heart attacks up to three hours before we might see the outwardly physical signs of them. It just snaps on to this little sticker that you would attached to an elderly patient. But I think what that power outage showed us is that all this technology can do great things unless there is no power. So you got to have a backup battery and a plan B. Even here at the CES.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Yes. We need power. Thanks Samuel for that. Talk show host and comedian David Letterman has a new gig with the pretty familiar premise. He is hosting a talk show and former U.S. president Barack Obama is his first guest. Now we got a sneak peek of the show which hits Netflix on Friday. Mr. Obama jokes around with Letterman and shares story of how he once tried to dance with legendary singer Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Prince ask Sasha

to come up and dance and she is an excellent dancer, then Sasha pulls me up, which surprises me, because she always mocks my dancing, but I have bad moves. And I think the key is what we call staying in the pocket.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVID LETTERMAN, THE DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW HOST: Staying in the pocket.

OBAMA: You got to stay in the pocket.

(END VIDEO)

CHURCH: Almost all the dads had bad moves. Thanks for your company this hour. I am Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on twitter. The news continues now with Max Foster in London. You're watching CNN. Have a great day.

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